Chapter 5 - THE CRACKED PHONE
Saturday morning filled Fairbridge Market with music, smoke from food stalls, and hundreds of shoppers.
Linda arrived early.
She wore the flash drive on a cord beneath her blouse.
Toby carried the teddy bear his father had given him before he died.
The bear was named Captain.
One eye had been replaced with a blue button.
“Stay near Mrs. Alvarez’s fruit stand,” Linda told him.
“I can help you.”
“You can help by keeping Captain out of the strawberry boxes.”
Toby smiled.
Linda did not.
She had barely slept.
Desmond’s arrival was scheduled for eleven.
At ten-fifteen, Prescott messaged that he was delayed by a board call.
Linda decided to wait.
Toby wandered toward the storage lane behind the tents after Captain’s loose blue eye fell onto the pavement.
The button rolled beneath a temporary office trailer.
Toby crawled after it.
He found the eye beside a concrete block.
Then he heard Celeste’s voice above him.
The trailer door opened.
High heels crossed the metal steps.
Owen followed.
Toby remained beneath the trailer, hidden behind hanging electrical cables.
“Desmond arrives in thirty minutes,” Celeste said.
“The brake line is nearly done.”
“Nearly?”
“A police patrol passed the lot. I had to stop.”
“And Linda?”
“She’s at the yellow booth.”
“Take her behind the loading lane. Use the green commercial bin.”
Toby’s heart began pounding.
Owen lowered his voice.
“What if someone opens it?”
“Not before collection tonight.”
“And the boy?”
“Tell people he was caught stealing. He is dirty, fatherless, and always hanging around the stalls. They’ll believe us.”
Toby pressed both hands over his mouth.
Celeste continued.
“Once Desmond reaches the West River curve, the brakes fail. Linda’s note will be found near the car.”
“What note?”
“The one saying she would make him pay for destroying her career.”
Owen laughed softly.
“You planned everything.”
“No. Linda created the perfect story when she accused us.”
Toby remembered the old phone in his pocket.
Linda had given it to him for emergencies.
Its screen was cracked, but the voice recorder still worked.
He slowly pressed the side button.
A red line began moving across the display.
Owen asked, “What happens after the crash?”
Celeste’s answer was quiet.
“By the time anyone understands, I will control the company, the market will belong to Cresswell, and Linda Carter will look like a murderer.”
A delivery cart rattled past.
Toby flinched.
His elbow struck a metal pipe.
The sound echoed beneath the trailer.
Celeste stopped speaking.
“What was that?”
Owen crouched near the steps.
Toby grabbed Captain and crawled through the dirt toward the opposite side.
A hand reached beneath the trailer.
It missed his ankle by inches.
Toby ran between the tents.
Behind him, Owen shouted his name.
Shoppers turned.
Toby did not stop.
He had recorded the truth.
But he had also led Owen directly toward his mother.
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👉 Toby escaped from beneath the trailer—but Celeste now knew the little boy carried the only recording that could expose the entire murder plan.
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