Chapter 7 - THE PHONE INSIDE THE RABBIT
The rabbit’s back seam had been stitched by hand.
Inside the stuffing, police found a small prepaid phone wrapped in a sock.
Rose had purchased it under cash registration.
April believed it was a game.
Rose had told her Bunny was protecting “important family pictures.”
The phone contained photographs, messages, and automatic audio backups.
It also contained twenty-three unsent messages to me.
Dad, Arthur has taken control of my email.
Dad, please do not call the house phone.
Dad, I found insurance papers with my signature.
Dad, I am afraid I waited too long.
None had reached me because the phone had never been connected to cellular service after Rose typed them.
She had intended to send them from public Wi-Fi.
The last message was dated the night she died.
Dad, if I do not call tomorrow, the bag is with Lucy.
The phone’s photo gallery showed Rose’s wrist bruises, Arthur’s loan documents, and a bottle of zolpidem bearing Natalie’s name.
One image captured the bottle inside Arthur’s desk.
Natalie had filled the prescription ten days before Rose died.
She claimed the bottle disappeared from her apartment.
Her building’s security footage showed Arthur entering alone with a key.
That did not prove what he did with the pills.
The phone contained texts Rose secretly exported from Arthur’s tablet.
NATALIE: Two tablets will make her sleep.
ARTHUR: I need her awake enough to sign.
NATALIE: Then use one.
ARTHUR: She knows about the policy.
NATALIE: You said you could control her.
The messages were dated three days before Rose’s death.
Natalie’s attorney argued they discussed helping Rose sleep before a difficult conversation.
The language suggested coercion.
The final audio backup provided more.
At 11:12 p.m., Rose activated recording inside the office.
Arthur demanded signatures transferring her townhouse interest and confirming the life-insurance beneficiary.
Rose refused.
Natalie said, “You told me she had already agreed.”
Arthur answered, “She changes her mind whenever Charles gets involved.”
Rose said she had sent everything to me.
Arthur became quiet.
Then he asked where the recorder was.
The sound of objects being moved followed.
Rose left the office.
Footsteps reached the landing.
Arthur said, “You are not walking away again.”
Rose answered, “Move.”
A struggle.
A sharp impact.
Then a heavier sound from below.
Natalie screamed.
For six seconds, no one spoke.
Finally, she whispered:
“Arthur… what did you do?”
Arthur’s breathing was loud near the phone.
May you like
Then he said the sentence that changed the investigation from suspicious death to suspected homicide.
“Don’t call yet.”
