Chapter 2: The Hidden Ally The room fell into absolute silence. Every detective stared at Mateo. Daniel slowly knelt until he was eye level with his son. "Mateo..." he said gently. "Whose voice did you hear?" The boy lowered his eyes. His heart pounded so loudly he could barely hear anything else. "I... I know that voice." The lead detective, Inspector Harrison Cole, spoke softly. "Take your time." Mateo squeezed Daniel's hand. "I can't remember the face." "No one is asking you to." "But..." He swallowed hard. "I've heard that voice a hundred times." Daniel felt a chill spread through his chest. Someone close. Someone trusted. Someone who had walked through this house without suspicion. The mysterious cellphone was taken to the state cybercrime laboratory. Forty-eight hours passed without progress. Every attempt to unlock it failed. Fingerprint recognition. Face ID. Passcode recovery. Nothing worked. Then, on the third morning, Inspector Cole called Daniel. "We found something." Daniel drove to the laboratory immediately. A technician met him inside a secure room. "The phone never connected to a normal cloud backup," she explained. "But..." She pointed toward a large monitor. "It automatically synchronized tiny encrypted packets every night." Daniel frowned. "Can you read them?" "Not directly." "What can you see?" She enlarged a timeline. "There were exactly seventy-two data transfers." "When?" "Every evening." "For six months." Daniel's face hardened. "Someone was receiving information from Rebecca almost every single day." Back at the mansion... Life had become strangely quiet. Rebecca remained in police custody. Sofia slowly returned to her normal routines, though she refused to sleep unless Daniel stayed beside her. Mateo, however, became quieter each day. He watched people. Their voices. Their footsteps. Their habits. Every little detail mattered now. That afternoon he wandered into the family library. The old grandfather clock ticked steadily. Books lined every wall. He had played here countless times as a child. Then something caught his eye. One family photograph. It was crooked. Only slightly. He walked closer. Straightened it. Click. A faint mechanical sound echoed behind the bookshelf. Mateo stepped back. The entire shelf shifted forward less than an inch. His eyes widened. A hidden compartment. He pushed gently. The shelf slowly opened. Inside sat a small steel box. Covered in dust. Untouched for years. "Dad!" Daniel rushed into the room moments later. "What happened?" Mateo pointed silently. Neither of them spoke. Daniel carefully lifted the metal box onto the table. There was no lock. Inside were dozens of old letters. Photographs. Insurance documents. And one sealed envelope. Across the front, written in elegant handwriting: Only if Rebecca ever comes back. Daniel froze. He recognized the handwriting instantly. Emily. His late wife. His hands trembled as he opened the envelope. Inside was a single letter. It began simply. Daniel... If you're reading this, then I was right. Rebecca has returned. Daniel's breathing stopped. He continued reading. You always believed Rebecca left because she wanted a different life. That wasn't true. She left because I discovered what she was stealing. Daniel looked up. Stealing? The letter continued. It wasn't money. It was information. She copied every business document she could find. Every account. Every contract. Every signature. She said someone was paying her for everything she could collect. Daniel felt the blood drain from his face. Emily had known. Years ago. She had known Rebecca was working for someone else. But the letter became even darker. The man paying Rebecca never entered our house. At least... that's what Rebecca wanted me to believe. Daniel stared at the next sentence. His hands began shaking uncontrollably. I think he's already part of this family. That evening... The investigators gathered in Daniel's office. Every family member's name appeared on a whiteboard. House staff. Relatives. Business partners. Old friends. Inspector Cole circled three names. "We know Rebecca had help." "We know the helper knew this house." "We know Emily suspected that person years ago." Daniel looked around the room. "Then someone here has been lying to us for a very long time." The inspector nodded. "Exactly." A young detective entered carrying new forensic results. "We finally recovered something from Rebecca's locked phone." Everyone stood. "What is it?" "Not messages." "Then what?" "Voice recordings." Daniel frowned. "How many?" "One hundred and seventeen." The detective pressed Play. Static filled the room. Then Rebecca's voice. "...Daniel suspects nothing..." Another recording. "...I'll keep the children distracted..." Another. "...he still trusts him..." Daniel suddenly interrupted. "Stop." Everyone looked at him. His face had turned pale. "What?" "I know that sentence." The detective rewound the audio. "...he still trusts him..." Daniel whispered almost to himself. "She didn't say 'me.'" The room went quiet. Inspector Cole leaned closer. "What are you hearing?" Daniel replayed it once more. Then it became unmistakable. Rebecca wasn't speaking to herself. She was talking to someone standing right beside her. A man. Almost completely silent. Only his breathing could be heard. The forensic technician isolated the background noise. Footsteps. A grandfather clock chiming. And... Soft piano music. Daniel's eyes widened. "Our house doesn't have a piano." Inspector Cole nodded. "No." "But someone else's does." Just then another officer burst through the door. "We traced one of the encrypted uploads." Everyone turned. "It didn't go overseas." "Where did it go?" The officer looked down at his report. Then back at Daniel. "It was transmitted less than two miles from this mansion." The room fell silent. Rebecca's partner hadn't been hiding across the country. He had been living nearby. Watching. Waiting. Listening. And according to the latest signal... His phone had just been turned on again.

5 chapters