Chapter 10 - The room was nine hours
Claire’s criminal case depended heavily on duration and conditions.
The prosecution reconstructed the day.
7:42 a.m.:
Paige’s car at our driveway from doorbell camera.
7:46:
Nora and Paige enter.
7:55:
Paige leaves.
12:11 p.m.:
My text to Claire that I was returning early.
12:34:
Claire calls Paige.
12:38.
12:41.
12:55.
No answer.
1:07:
Utility-room door sensor? We did not have sensor. No.
Ethan’s statement placed Nora inside shortly after lunch.
Approximately 1:15.
I arrived at 4:26.
Police opened room at 4:52.
So confinement:
roughly three and a half hours.
Not nine.
Good.
This makes medical distress mild. Need earlier say she had crackers at 8? Actually she was in house, ate breakfast but maybe no lunch. Fine.
The concealed-room narrative online? We won't publicize. So girl not there for days. Source feels dramatic but grounded.
What did Claire do during those hours?
She attempted Paige repeatedly.
Called her own sister once but hung up.
Searched:
how to tell husband child may be his
paternity rights father not on birth certificate
can aunt take child back after temporary care
child custody if mother deceased father unknown
No search:
how to hide child.
No chloroform nonsense.
No plan to harm.
At 2:03 she gave Nora crackers and water.
At 2:47 took her briefly to the downstairs bathroom while Ethan stayed in living room.
Then locked her back inside.
That second lock mattered.
It was no longer one panic decision.
She had a chance to end it.
She continued.
Why?
My location on shared map showed me less than ninety minutes away.
Claire wanted Paige to return before I did.
If Paige took Nora away, Claire could tell me privately later.
May you like
Or maybe never.
That became the frightening possibility.
