Chapter 14 - The Phone in the Toy Chest
Police found the phone sealed inside the hollow plastic base of Noah's toy chest.
Daniel had assembled that chest himself.
Claire must have altered it later.
The device was encrypted, but investigators recovered enough to build a timeline.
There were messages with Sloane.
Messages with Evan.
Messages with an attorney Claire had consulted months before filing anything.
And hundreds of notes about Daniel.
His moods.
His travel.
His friends.
The children's fears.
One entry read:
NOAH STILL BELIEVES D. WILL SAVE HIM. NEED TO BREAK THAT.
Daniel had to stop reading.
Agent Kim continued for him.
Another note said:
LILY COPIES NOAH. SEPARATE THEM WHEN POSSIBLE.
That explained the sudden insistence months earlier that Lily should start sleeping in a room on the other side of the hall.
Daniel had thought Claire was helping the children become independent.
In reality, she was trying to divide them.
The phone also contained a calendar entry for the night Daniel came home early.
VICTOR — 8:30. FINAL PACKAGE.
Daniel had walked into the kitchen at 7:52.
If he had arrived thirty-eight minutes later, Claire planned to meet Victor Sloane.
"What was the final package?" Daniel asked.
Agent Kim slid a photo across the table.
It showed a flash drive.
"We don't know yet."
They searched the house again.
Nothing.
Then Noah, listening from the hallway despite being told to stay with Rachel, said quietly, "The blue whale."
Daniel turned.
"What blue whale?"
"Claire put something in Lily's whale toy and said it was a secret treasure."
Lily ran to her room and returned with a stuffed blue whale.
Agent Kim carefully opened a seam that had been resewn.
Inside was a small flash drive wrapped in plastic.
Daniel stared at it.
Kim placed it into an evidence bag.
"Commander, if this contains what we think it contains, this case is about to become much bigger."
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And from the front porch, a voice suddenly shouted Daniel's name.
Claire had come back.
