Chapter 3 - Brooke Starts Building a Case
The attorney's name was Daniel Mercer.
His office smelled like coffee and old paper, and he had the unsettling habit of remaining completely silent while reading.
For twenty minutes, he studied Brooke's petition.
Then he removed his glasses.
“This is interesting.”
“Interesting?”
“Not necessarily convincing.”
Relief flooded through me.
Then he added, “But dangerous.”
It disappeared.
Daniel explained that Brooke didn't need to prove I had committed a crime in the traditional sense just to drag me into a legal proceeding. She needed allegations serious enough for a judge to examine.
“And she has photographs,” I said.
“She has photographs of you being places.”
“Exactly.”
“That isn't automatically stalking.”
I showed him invitations, ticket receipts, messages from friends.
Daniel organized everything chronologically.
Then he noticed something.
“Who initiated contact after the breakup?”
“Brooke.”
“Do you still have those messages?”
“Yes.”
I showed him.
You should be ashamed.
Trying to isolate someone is abusive.
Caleb finally sees what you are.
Daniel leaned back.
“Good.”
“How is that good?”
“Because she describes you as someone obsessively pursuing her, but days after the breakup, she's pursuing communication with you.”
For the first time since receiving the papers, I breathed normally.
Then Daniel asked about the photograph left under my door.
I showed him.
His expression changed.
“Who took this?”
“I don't know.”
“Did Brooke know where you lived?”
“I never told her.”
“What about Caleb?”
“No.”
Daniel studied the photograph.
“You need to document everything from now on.”
That sentence became my new life.
Every call.
Every email.
Every unexpected encounter.
I saved everything.
And that's when the pattern became stranger.
Brooke claimed I had appeared outside a coffee shop where she and Caleb were meeting.
I hadn't.
She claimed I had driven past her apartment.
I didn't even know her exact address.
She claimed I had sent anonymous messages.
Daniel requested copies.
Brooke's attorney provided screenshots.
The messages came from an unknown number.
No evidence connected it to me.
But the wording bothered me.
You won.
He's yours.
One message read:
Hope you're happy now.
They sounded like things an angry ex-girlfriend might say.
They also sounded like things somebody might write if they wanted to imitate one.
Then Daniel discovered something else.
One photograph allegedly showing me “following” Brooke had been taken at Melissa's birthday party.
The timestamp was 8:42 p.m.
Brooke's petition claimed she had noticed me arriving after Caleb and her.
Melissa's invitation showed I had arrived first.
Better yet, Melissa had photographs.
At 7:51 p.m., I was standing beside the birthday cake.
Caleb and Brooke didn't appear in photographs until 8:17.
Brooke had arrived after me.
It wasn't proof that everything was false.
But it was the first crack.
Then came another.
At the concert, my ticket had been purchased seven weeks before Caleb bought his.
Daniel subpoenaed records.
At the engagement party, I was invited by the bride.
Brooke had attended as Caleb's guest.
Again, I had not followed them.
They had entered my plans.
Still, Daniel warned me not to become overconfident.
“A courtroom isn't a mathematical equation,” he said. “People tell stories. Judges decide which story makes sense.”
“And Brooke's story makes sense?”
“To someone who doesn't know the timeline? Maybe.”
That frightened me.
Because Brooke's version was simple.
Jealous girlfriend gives boyfriend ultimatum.
Boyfriend rejects ultimatum.
Girlfriend becomes obsessed.
Girlfriend follows boyfriend and best friend.
Mine required explanations.
History.
Context.
Coincidences.
And complicated stories are harder to believe.
The night before our first hearing, I couldn't sleep.
At 11:38 p.m., my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
Then a message appeared.
You should ask Brooke who took the picture outside Melissa's apartment.
My blood went cold.
I typed:
Who is this?
No response.
I called Daniel.
He answered on the third ring.
I read the message.
“Screenshot it,” he said.
“I already did.”
“Don't reply again.”
“But whoever sent it knows about the photograph.”
“Yes.”
“Daniel…”
“I know.”
There was a pause.
Then he said something that changed the direction of the entire case.
“If someone else took that photograph, Hannah, then Brooke may not have been documenting you because she feared you.”
“What was she doing?”
May you like
Daniel's answer was quiet.
“She may have been following you.”
