Recorded May 9, 2017, 9:16 p.m.
The camera pans across a fairly unremarkable bedroom. A few art prints adorn the walls—a woman with a birdcage for a chest, a manipulated photograph of a girl falling from the sky over a field of wheat, a painting of a girl plucking a star from the night sky. A desk sits against one wall; a twin bed, gray sheets, rumpled, against another. Melanie Whittaker steps into frame and crosses to the closet.
MEL: If she hid it, it should be in here.
ABBY: Do you mind starting from the top, introducing what we’re doing? For the official records.
MEL: Official?
ABBY: I mean. Ish. Ashford’s a stickler.
Mel turns to the camera.
MEL: Okay. Um, this is Sara Donoghue’s room. Sara and Becca have always been really close, but even close sisters occasionally want to keep things private, so Sara would sometimes stash things where Becca couldn’t find them. And I know where, because I’m a bad influence and it was usually my fault she had something worth hiding. So.
She turns back to the closet and slides it open, then crouches down. She runs her fingers along the near side of the floor.
MEL: Yup. This bit of carpet comes up, and then this bit of wood comes away, and there’s a little gap, and . . .
Mel pulls free a phone, brushing dust from it.
MEL: Shit. Here it is.
ABBY: Can you confirm that is Anthony Beck’s phone?
MEL: I think so. Out of juice, though.
ABBY: Let’s get it charged and see what was worth hiding.