CHAPTER 4 — Someone Had Been Inside My House
The police searched every inch of my property.
The black SUV was gone.
No fingerprints.
No license plate.
Nothing.
It was as if the driver had vanished into thin air.
One detective, however, didn't believe it was over.
"If they know you found the evidence," he said quietly, "they'll try to get it back."
His words echoed in my mind long after the officers left.
That night, Jerry refused to leave my side.
He lay in front of the bedroom door, ears twitching at every sound.
Around 2:17 a.m., he suddenly growled.
Low.
Slow.
Dangerously calm.
I woke instantly.
The house was silent...
Until I heard it.
A faint creak downstairs.
Someone was inside.
I grabbed my phone.
No signal.
The Wi-Fi had stopped working too.
Then came another sound.
A floorboard.
One step.
Another.
Jerry charged toward the hallway, barking so violently the walls seemed to shake.
The footsteps froze.
Then...
The back door slammed shut.
By the time police arrived, the intruder was gone.
But they hadn't left empty-handed.
The leather notebook was still there.
The USB drive was still there.
Only one thing had disappeared.
Emily's old flip phone.
The detective's expression turned pale.
"They weren't stealing evidence," he whispered.
"They were looking for something hidden inside the phone."
The next morning...
Someone called my cellphone from an unknown number.
When I answered...
All I heard was a woman whispering:
May you like
"He doesn't know about the second key..."
Then the line went dead.
