Chapter 5
Beate’s reaction to the ringtone told Detective Brenner almost as much as the footage.
Her entire body recoiled.
One hand clamped over her belly.
Her eyes went to the clinic door, then the window, then the hallway, searching for escape from a man who was not even physically there.
Thomas saw it and moved half a step in front of her.
Not blocking the doctor.
Blocking the fear.
The phone vibrated again in his hand.
Gero Miller.
Dr. Richter stopped adjusting the ultrasound probe.
Detective Brenner raised one finger, a silent instruction.
Answer.
Thomas knew exactly why.
A threat recorded freely was evidence with its own pulse.
He tapped the screen and activated speaker.
For one second there was only static and rain.
Then Gero’s voice came through, smooth and false.
“Beate, come home before your father makes this worse.”
Beate closed her eyes.
Thomas looked at Detective Brenner.
The detective had already begun recording.
Dr. Richter’s face tightened at the tone. She had heard men sound like that before. Gentle only when watched. Calm only when calculating.
Thomas raised the phone.
“You’re on speaker, Gero. Keep talking.”
Silence.
Not confusion.
Calculation.
Thomas could almost hear Gero rearranging himself on the other end.
Finally, Gero said, “Colonel Brand.”
The title came out like an insult wearing respect.
Thomas’s voice stayed quiet.
“Retired.”
“You have no right to interfere in my marriage.”
Beate flinched at the word my.
Detective Brenner glanced at her, then wrote something in her folder.
Thomas said, “You called a medical clinic and told a seven-months-pregnant woman to come home before her father made it worse.”
Gero laughed once.
“You’re twisting my words.”
“No,” Thomas said. “You chose them.”
Gero’s breathing changed.
Beate looked at Detective Brenner. The detective’s expression confirmed what Beate needed to know: this was not invisible anymore.
Gero tried again.
“Beate is emotional. Pregnancy has made her unstable.”
Dr. Richter’s eyes hardened.
Thomas looked at his daughter, then at the bruises on her shoulder.
“Keep talking,” he said.
For the first time in their marriage, Gero did.
May you like
And everyone heard him.
Read Chapter 6 👉 Because Gero thought calling Beate unstable would save him, but he had said it inside the one room built to document the truth.
