You need the pages to prove that. You know the name, and I now require counsel. Peter searched Simone's notebook. The pages describing the approving official had been cut out before the cases reached the plane. Celeste never intended the cases to contain the complete record.
He said Valerie Cain was questioned again. She admitted copying Rusk's credentials but denied knowing the masked driver. Celeste communicated through an anonymous supervisor. Valerie said, "We called him the custodian." "Did you ever see him?" Hayes asked. "No." "How did he contact you?" Case 417.
Zuri's phone felt suddenly heavier. The same channel warning her about the trap had also directed Valerie. The sender is playing both sides, Mercer said. Helping the twins when it exposes Celeste. Helping Celeste when it protects someone higher.
Nia looked at the repaired paw. Mom said a mistake becomes a map. What mistake? Zuri asked. The messages always know what just happened.
But mom made the channel 6 months ago. Simone could have scheduled warnings based on file activity. Yet she could not have known the evidence officer had just been attacked or that the cases were replaced with empty shells. Someone alive was watching. Captain Cole ordered a review of every device connected to the cabin camera.
Only four accounts had viewed it since landing. the flight deck, Kansas City Police Command, the Airline Operations Center, and a personal device inside Flight 218. Officer Hayes asked for its seat location. The answer appeared, RO3. Zuri checked her phone. Case 417 was open, but her device had never accessed the camera.
Nia carried no phone. The only other object in row three was the transmitter inside Mr. Buttons. Officer Mercer removed the bear from the metal container under controlled supervision. The transmitter's red light remained dark, but its casing had a narrow slot beneath the battery. Inside was a memory strip.
Peter examined its serial number. This was registered to quiet transfer before Simone began investigating it. Who registered it? Zuri asked. Peter entered the number into the recovered archive.
The account belonged to the custodian. The transmitter had watched the cabin, sent the warnings, and opened both cases. Whoever hidded inside Mr. Buttons controlled case 417 that pointed to Valerie, the woman who took the bear in Baltimore, but Valerie had been in custody when the cases disappeared. Someone else still had live access to her device. Nia looked at the cut scene.
Clare put the bracelet inside, but she didn't put the black box there. Valerie did, Zuri replied. No, she returned Mr. Buttons before you came back with the water. I checked his stitches while we waited. The seam wasn't cut yet, and there was nothing hard inside.
Zuri froze. If Nia remembered correctly, Valerie had altered the travel pouch, but had not planted the transmitter. Someone placed it inside the bear after boarding. Clare admitted cutting the seam and inserting the replica bracelet. She could also have inserted the device.
Yet the video showed Clare's left hand entering the bear for only 3 seconds. Too little time to cut it, position two objects, and conceal the opening. Who touched Mr. Buttons between the desk and Clare? Hayes asked. Nia thought carefully.
The male officer. Every face turned toward Owen Mercer. He remained calm. I did not meet the children before the flight. Not you, Nia said. a different officer at the gate.