# CHAPTER 8 — THE PHONE IN THE BACKPACK
Mara grabbed the rabbit backpack.
The ringing continued from somewhere inside the lining.
She opened every pocket.
No phone.
No visible device.
Bruno cut open the inner seam with a knife.
A thin black receiver dropped into his palm.
It was smaller than a matchbox.
“Someone put this in her bag,” Mara said.
Emma shook her head.
“My rabbit has always had that bump.”
“How long?” Alejandro asked.
“Since Daddy fixed it.”
Mara stared at her.
Emma’s father, Daniel Carter, had disappeared two years earlier.
Mara had told everyone he was dead because that explanation hurt less than admitting she did not know.
The receiver rang again.
Alejandro pressed the answer button.
A distorted voice spoke immediately.
“You survived because of the wrong child.”
“Who are you?”
“The man who remembers what you buried.”
“What do you want?”
“The memory card.”
Alejandro looked toward Gabriel.
Gabriel was already trying to trace the signal.
“You poisoned me for a piece of footage?”
“No. We poisoned you because you were supposed to die at 4:40.”
Alejandro’s eyes narrowed.
“Why that time?”
The caller ignored him.
“Give us the memory card by midnight, or the next allergic reaction belongs to Emma.”
Mara stepped toward the device.
“You stay away from my daughter.”
The voice paused.
“Mara Carter.”
Hearing her name made her stop.
“Your husband begged us to leave you out of this.”
Mara’s face lost its color.
“Daniel is dead.”
“Then who repaired the rabbit backpack?”
The call ended.
Gabriel checked his screen.
“I couldn’t trace it. The signal bounced through at least fifteen locations.”
Bruno returned from the basement.
One of his guards had been shot in the shoulder. The attacker had escaped through an old service tunnel behind the boiler room.
“We found Teresa,” Bruno said.
“Alive?” Alejandro asked.
“No.”
Mara covered Emma’s ears.
Bruno lowered his voice.
“We found her coat, blood, and one shoe. No body.”
“Then she may still be alive.”
“Or someone wants us to believe she is.”
Gabriel examined the receiver.
“There’s storage inside.”
He connected it to the computer.
A single audio file appeared.
Mara recognized Daniel’s voice before the first sentence ended.
“If you’re hearing this, I failed to get home.”
Mara sat down.
Daniel continued.
“The crash that killed Kiara Moretti was staged. The child survived the impact. Someone removed her before Alejandro reached the scene.”
Alejandro’s face became motionless.
Daniel’s recorded breathing sounded fast.
“I saw who took her. I hid proof inside the rabbit because nobody searches a sick child’s medicine bag.”
The recording crackled.
A door slammed in the background.
Daniel whispered one final warning.
“Do not trust the wolf.”
A second voice spoke behind him.
“You should have left the girl in the car.”
Then came a gunshot.
The recording ended.
Bruno looked at the silver wolf cufflinks on the table.
Everyone else looked at him too.
May you like
But Emma stared at Matteo Serra.
“That was his voice,” she said.
