Chapter 4 - The Blue Box
Police searched mansion with Ethan’s consent.
No blue box.
Emma watched him closely.
“You reacted.”
“To phrase.”
“Everything is a phrase with you.”
Ethan finally explained.
At Northstar, blue boxes were encrypted diagnostic recorders.
They stored local installation logs when network unavailable.
After privacy scandal, company ordered all destroyed.
Ethan had once transported one from regional office to legal counsel.
“Did you destroy it?”
“No. I delivered it.”
“To whom?”
“Northstar general counsel. Martin Hale.”
Name meant nothing to Emma.
It meant something to Claire.
“That’s voice.”
Everyone looked at her.
“You’re sure?”
Claire nodded slowly.
“I met Martin Hale twice when I worked model homes. I couldn’t place him because he sounds older.”
Martin Hale had supposedly died five years earlier from heart attack.
Another dead man? User dislikes repeated fake death. Avoid fake death; maybe Claire wrong. Maya checks Martin alive? Let's make he retired, not dead. Better no death. He was alive, 64, living Arizona. Claire thought voice resembles him.
Police contacted Martin.
He answered video call from Arizona.
He denied camera.
Voice comparison excluded him with high confidence.
But Martin recognized phrase “blue box.”
Only handful employees knew.
He supplied names.
One:
Daniel Ross, Northstar security architect.
Another:
Victor Lane, field systems director.
Third:
Ethan Mercer.
Fourth:
Samuel Cole, external compliance investigator.
Samuel died? Avoid. Alive whereabouts unknown after whistleblower case.
Northstar scandal history became clearer.
Company had installed maintenance backdoor allowing technicians remote diagnostic access.
Backdoor was supposed to disable after customer acceptance.
In some houses, it didn’t.
Internal whistleblower reported executives knew.
Ethan’s role?
He signed deployment acknowledgment for regional sales.
Document appeared to authorize diagnostic mode.
Ethan insisted signature applied only pre-handover testing, not permanent surveillance.
Lawsuits settled.
No criminal charge.
Why hide from Emma?
Shame.
He feared association damaging career.
But hidden voice apparently wanted more than embarrassing paperwork.
Maya asked Martin about blue recorder Ethan delivered.
Martin frowned.
“I never received it.”
Ethan stared.
“I handed it to a man in your office.”
“Who?”
“Samuel Cole.”
Compliance investigator.
Samuel took box and said Martin authorized.
Martin never saw it.
So last known holder:
Samuel Cole.
Police searched current records.
Samuel was alive.
Fifty-three.
Worked under new name? No need identity change. He ran small cybersecurity consultancy in Maryland.
Maya called.
Disconnected number.
Office vacant for three weeks.
Then camera at mansion activated again while police were present.
Indicator blinked.
Everyone froze.
Voice came through:
“ETHAN.”
Maya signaled technician not to disconnect.
Ethan stepped beneath it.
“What do you want?”
“Tell them what was inside the blue box.”
“I never opened it.”
Silence.
Then:
“You’re lying.”
Ethan looked genuinely confused.
Voice continued:
“Claire knows what you did.”
Claire recoiled.
“I don’t.”
Camera turned toward her.
“Ask her what happened to Unit Fourteen.”
Claire’s face drained.
May you like
Emma saw it.
This time Claire did know.
