Chapter 234

"Just when we were wondering how to get in, everything just fell into place so smoothly."

I nodded. It was quite the coincidence.

As we headed downstairs, it hit me. "Wait a sec, didn't you say this house was under Earl's name? So why's there a woman living here now?"

"That woman might be the one taking care of your kid. If we find her, we might find the child."

"And that room, it looked like it was deliberately messed up to hide any trace of the child, but there wasn't a single thing left behind."

"At least this trip wasn't a total bust. Let's see if there's any clue on this phone."

I quickly pulled the phone out of my bag and pressed the power button.

No response. Not surprising, really. The phone had probably been out of use for a while. It'd be a miracle if it turned on.

We found a random hotel and plugged the phone in to charge.

While waiting, I started to wonder why the woman had left.

"That house is pretty upscale for this town. Why wouldn't she stay there?"

Royce shook his head. "Hard to say right now, but she must've felt some kind of danger to leave in such a hurry."

"And she didn't want anyone to know where the child was. That's odd. Besides us, who else would be looking for her?"

"She might be trying to protect the child or hide the child. But from what I see, hiding seems more likely."

I nodded. "Yeah, maybe she just wanted to keep the child safe."

"You're right. The phone's on. Let's check it out."

After charging for a bit, the phone finally powered up. As soon as the startup animation finished, a photo popped up on the screen.

It was a picture of a child, smiling widely.

The child hadn't grown any teeth yet, looking only a few months old, with bright eyes and a delicate nose.

I immediately recognized the child and nodded quickly. "This is my child. His eyes are just like Brett's when he was little. I can't be wrong."

"So the owner of this phone took my child."

"Very likely. Let's see if there are any other clues. If not, I'll get some tech people to crack the phone."

Unfortunately, Royce and I didn't find anything useful on the phone. There wasn't even a photo of the mysterious woman holding my child.

Feeling disheartened, I handed the phone to Royce.

He caught it and patted my head reassuringly.

"Don't worry. I'll take it to the tech department and have them analyze it. There's still hope."

"Trust me."

I nodded, but I couldn't help feeling down.

Back at the hotel, I called Savannah to ask if anything unusual had happened at home recently.

Savannah said, "No, no one has come by. It's just been us."

"I also told them not to talk about it, especially the kids. Brett is older now and understands what I mean."

Hearing this, I felt relieved and thanked her.

But I didn't tell Savannah about what was happening on my end, to avoid confusing her and causing unnecessary worry.

Soon, Royce's tech team managed to recover the photos from the phone.

But the only noteworthy thing on the phone was the child's photos. There were no pictures of the woman taking care of him.

She had deleted them in a hurry, thinking they wouldn't be found. But with today's technology, even deleted photos can be recovered.

Looking at the photos of my child growing up, I couldn't help but tear up.

This was my child. He had grown up without ever seeing his mother.

This child was truly pitiful.

Royce sat beside me, patting my shoulder to comfort me.

"What's wrong? Calm down. Tomorrow we'll go back and do another sweep."

I nodded. It was better than doing nothing.

The next day, Royce and I went back. The neighbors were familiar with us now, so they didn't say anything.

Just then, a woman appeared at the door, looking at us warily.

"Who are you? Who let you in?"

Royce repeated the story from yesterday. The woman still looked skeptical. "Really?"

At that moment, a neighbor opened their door. "It's true, Eloise. I called yesterday. They really are repairmen."

Hearing this, the woman called Eloise relaxed.

She peeked inside. "Such a nice house, and she just up and left. That woman must be crazy."

Royce and I exchanged a glance, thinking Eloise might know something.

We cleared our throats and pretended to check the wiring while trying to get more information.

"Yeah, we were curious too. Why would she leave such a nice house?"

Eloise nodded in agreement. "Exactly. A few months ago, she left in a hurry, taking the child with her, and never came back."

"Really? I didn't see any child's stuff in the house."

"I don't know. I suspect she stole the child. She always covered the child's face when going out and rarely left the house. Very suspicious."

"Do you know her name? I'm worried she might not pay us for our work."

"I don't know her name. She was always aloof and didn't talk to us neighbors. But I did take a photo of her once."

My eyes lit up, and I exchanged a look with Royce. "Can we see the photo? We need to check if she's the one who hired us."

Eloise, without any hesitation, showed us her phone. The photo was of a woman in her late 30s, still quite attractive despite some fine lines around her eyes.

"That's not the person who hired us," I quickly said.

I tugged at Royce. "Honey, look. The person who hired us was an older woman, right?"

Royce frowned, taking the phone. "Yes, the person who hired us was older, not this woman. Eloise, can we take a picture of this photo?"