Chapter 3: The Woman Who Wanted the Phone
The funeral chapel remained frozen.
The phone screen glowed between Nia’s fingers.
Unknown Number.
9:14 A.M.
The same time Marcus had called her.
The same time he had whispered words that had haunted her for three days.
Don’t trust anyone standing beside my coffin.
Nia slowly turned the phone around so everyone could see.
A few mourners stepped closer.
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
“Mrs. Reed?””
Evelyn didn’t answer.
Her face had lost all color.
For the first time since Nia arrived, the woman who always seemed untouchable looked fragile.
Like someone had pulled away the mask she wore for years.
Nia noticed.
And so did everyone else.
“What are you hiding?”” Nia asked.
Evelyn blinked.
“I’m not hiding anything.””
“Then why were you trying to grab this phone before I could see it?””
“I was trying to protect you.””
Nia almost laughed.
The sound never came.
“Protect me?””
She looked around the chapel.
“At my fiancé’s funeral?””
Evelyn lowered her voice.
“You don’t know what Marcus was involved in.””
Those words landed harder than anything else.
Daniel stepped forward.
“What does that mean?””
Evelyn looked at him.
Then at the crowd.
Then back at Nia.
“I didn’t want this happening here.””
Nia stared.
“Then where did you want it happening?””
No answer.
The silence became its own confession.
Nia looked down at the phone.
She wanted to press the screen.
She wanted to call back.
She wanted answers.
But Marcus had warned her.
Not to trust anyone.
Especially not the people standing beside his coffin.
Her thumb hovered over the screen.
Then stopped.
A memory returned.
A small moment from weeks earlier.
Marcus sitting at their kitchen table late at night.
The apartment lights were off except for the lamp above him. Papers were spread everywhere.
Nia had walked in carrying two cups of coffee.
“What are you doing?””
He quickly covered the papers.
“Nothing.””
She smiled.
“Marcus Reed, you are the worst liar I’ve ever met.””
He smiled back.
Usually, that would have been the end of it.
But that night, he looked exhausted.
“Nia.””
“What?””
“If someone tells you they know what’s best for you…”
He looked toward the window.
“Don’t believe them automatically.””
She had placed the coffee down.
“Are you talking about your mom?””
His silence answered for him.
Now, standing beside his coffin, Nia realized she had ignored something important.
Marcus had been afraid before he died.
And he had been afraid of someone close.
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Nia, give me the phone.””
“No.””
“You don’t understand.””
“Then explain.””
Evelyn’s lips parted.
Nothing came out.
That was the answer.
Nia looked at the screen again.
The unknown number was still there.
Waiting.
A dead man’s phone.
A mysterious caller.
A mother desperate to control the truth.
Something about this funeral was wrong.
“Nia,” Evelyn said softly, changing tactics.
“Please.””
That word surprised everyone.
Evelyn Reed did not beg.
Not in public.
Not to anyone.
“I lost my son,” she said.
Nia looked at her.
“And I lost my future.””
The two women stood facing each other.
One grieving mother.
One heartbroken bride.
Both holding pieces of a mystery neither understood.
Then Daniel noticed something.
“Nia.””
She looked at him.
“There’s something written on the phone case.””
She turned the device over.
A small scratch was carved into the back.
Three letters.
M.R.N.
Nia frowned.
“What does that mean?””
Evelyn suddenly stepped forward.
“Give me that phone.””
Her voice changed.
No fear anymore.
Panic.
Real panic.
Nia pulled it closer.
“Why?””
Evelyn stopped.
Because she knew she had revealed too much.
The mourners began whispering.
The elegant funeral chapel no longer felt like a place for saying goodbye.
It felt like a courtroom.
And everyone was waiting for someone to confess.
Nia looked at Evelyn.
“You knew something was going to happen today.””
“No.””
“You knew about the phone.””
“No.””
“You knew Marcus was trying to tell me something.””
Evelyn’s eyes filled with tears.
Then she said something that made the entire room go silent.
“Your fiancé wasn’t trying to expose me.””
Nia’s heart stopped.
“Then who was he trying to expose?””
Evelyn looked at the coffin.
Her voice dropped.
“The person who killed him.””
A gasp moved through the chapel.
Nia felt the world tilt.
Because until that moment, she thought Marcus’s death was an accident.
A tragedy.
Something cruel but simple.
Now she understood.
Marcus hadn’t left her a goodbye.
He had left her a trail.
The phone screen suddenly changed.
The incoming call disappeared.
A new notification appeared.
One message.
From the unknown number.
Nia stared.
Evelyn saw it too.
And whispered:
“Oh God.””
Nia slowly opened the message.
Her face changed.
Because the first line wasn’t a threat.
It was a warning.
May you like
And it was signed with a name she never expected to see.
*Marcus.*
