Chapter 5 · Continued
Recall
Jane released a breath and shook her head.
“Cam is a robot,” she said quietly. “Why would he be doing this?”
None of it fit together cleanly.
Not the way things were supposed to work.
Her mind pushed back, searching for a simpler explanation.
“Someone’s messing with me,” she said more firmly. “That’s all.”
It made more sense.
It had to.
But the explanation didn’t stick.
Not completely.
Her eyes drifted toward the earlier messages.
The enormous plant list.
The way it was organized.
The way it matched Cam’s original catalog exactly.
Jane swallowed. “…What if it is Cam?”
The question remained unanswered.
She looked at the phone once more before slowly placing it face down on the table.
“…No.”
Her voice was quiet, intended more to convince herself than anyone else.
“I’m not replying to that.”
Jane leaned back and exhaled. “It’s getting weird.”
The remainder of the day passed quietly.
No additional messages.
No strange interruptions.
Only work.
Normal.
That night, Jane moved through her routine without thinking.
Lights off.
Doors checked.
Seymour suddenly skittered across the floor, batting something ahead of him.
Metal clicked sharply against the hardwood.
Jane frowned. “What did you find?”
She bent down and picked it up before he could dart away with it again.
The object was small, round, and metallic, with two tiny screw holes and a fine mesh center.
Her breath caught.
“…No.”
Jane turned it over in her fingers.
She recognized the shape, the finish, and the seam around its edge.
She had repaired it herself.
Cam’s auditory cover.
The one that had come loose when he fell from the deck.
Jane looked down at Seymour. “Where did you get this?”
He blinked up at her, entirely unconcerned.
She slowly straightened, still holding the cover. Her eyes moved toward the door, then the hallway, and finally back to the object.
“…That’s not possible.”
Jane continued turning the piece between her fingers.
Then she released a slow breath.
“…Okay.”
There was a reasonable explanation.
The cover must have come loose again when Cam was taken away. It could have fallen somewhere inside the house and gone unnoticed. Seymour had probably discovered it beneath the couch or along the wall.
Jane nodded slightly as the explanation settled into place.
“Yeah… that’s all it is.”
She crouched and checked the floor where Seymour had been playing.
Nothing else.
No loose parts.
No marks.
Only the usual clutter.
Jane straightened and examined the cover again. “…It must’ve been there the whole time.”
She placed it carefully on the table.