Dr. Wilson prescribed some medication to help manage the side effects, explaining the dosage and potential side effects in a calm, professional manner. As Elliot helped Jonah out of the hospital, Jonah leaned heavily on him, his strength had completely finished, his body protesting with every step he took. The world seemed to tilt and sway, as he walked to the car. Elliot helped him to recline in the car while he drove Jonah home. He carried a sleeping Jonah out of the car to their room and Elliot joined him in sleep shortly after.
*****
Clara sat in her room, a complete opposite to the whirlwind of events that had consumed her life lately. She was trying to piece together the fragments of information she had, a nagging feeling that something was not quite right. Her thoughts drifted back to the blackmail, the anonymous threats that had targeted Jonah. A detail, small but significant, surfaced in her memory. In a frenzy she called Elliot. The phone rang just twice before Elliot picked up.
"Elliot could you bring me Jonah's phone?" She said, as soon as the call went through.
"Huh? Why? What is going on?" Elliot asked confused as he was woken up by Clara's call.
"I think I found a way to help us find the blackmailer." Clara said. Elliot sat up. "Are you serious?" He asked in disbelief.
"Yes I am sure. It is not a guarantee that it will work but the clue might bring us closer." Clara explained.
"Oh okay I will bring in Jonah's phone tomorrow." Elliot told her.
"That would be great! You do that." She said her voice high-pitched. "Oh and how is Jonah?" She asked her voice lowering in concern. "Well he is trying his best to endure." Elliot answered. Clara sighed. "Do not worry it will all be over soon okay." Clara reassured and ended the call. A bittersweet feeling in her heart. Elliot could barely contain his excitement as he struggled to sleep. At the first ray of dawn.
Elliot jumped up getting ready. He waited a little before helping Jonah get ready. "You seem awfully excited today." Jonah said observing his behavior. "Well.Yes I am." Elliot said a slight bounce in his voice.
"Care to share what's making you so jolly?" Jonah asked. Elliot answered by telling him about the phone call he had with Clara in the middle of the night. Jonah listened intently, a twinkle in his eye. He too had grown excited. They quickly left the house, zooming through morning traffic to Clara's house.
The doorbell echoed through the mansion that morning. An older maid opened the door and upon seeing them let them in.
"This way sir, the miss is waiting for you in the study." She said as she led them down a hallway. Elliot opened the door and found Clara's back to the entrance of the study as she spoke with a blonde man. The study was littered with wires and computers and all sorts of tech equipment.
"Good morning Clara." Elliot said announcing his presence. Clara looked up from her phone, a wide smile plastered on her face.
"Elliot, Jonah. Welcome, how have you guys been?" Clara asks again. "We have been battling life." Jonah says sighing. Clara sighs too her, eyes on Jonah as she's surprised by his sudden weight loss and gaunt appearance.
"Anyways enough of all that, I asked Elliot to bring you here today, because we will need your phone." Clara said cheerfully trying to lighten the mood. I will like to introduce you to Peter. He will be the one to help us with the clue we need to get today." Clara added. Pointing to a man with blond shaggy hair who had been sitting quietly at the desk staring intensely at his laptop screen.
"He is a specialist. He might be able to retrieve some information from Jonah's phone." Peter glanced up, his eyes briefly leaving the screen.
"Hey," he said, his voice casual but his gaze intense. "Clara says you need some data retrieved?" Elliot nodded. "Clara seems to think there might be a clue to find the blackmailer in Jonah's phone." Peter turned his chair towards them, his eyes gleaming with professional interest.
"Okay, let's have a look. What kind of phone is it?" Jonah handed over his phone, a slightly older model, its screen cracked in a few places. Peter took it gently, examining it with a practiced eye.
"Alright." Peter said, his fingers already dancing across the screen. "First, I will need to bypass the security protocols. Looks like a standard Android Operating System, so that should not be too difficult. I will try a brute-force attack on the pattern lock." As Peter worked, he explained his process in a mix of technical jargon and layman's terms.
"I am going to access the call logs first. Even if the calls were deleted, there is often residual data in the phone's memory. I'll use a data carving technique to retrieve any fragmented records." He typed rapidly, lines of code scrolling across the screen.
"Okay, I'm in," he announced after a few minutes, a satisfied smirk playing on his lips. "Now, let's see what we can find in these call logs." He navigated through the phone's files, his fingers flying across the keyboard. "Here we go," he said, his voice excited. "Call history, both incoming and outgoing. Deleted calls are marked, but I can still access the metadata: timestamps, call duration, and sometimes even snippets of the conversation." He focused on a particular entry.
"This call it's from an unknown number. " Does the timestamp align with one of the blackmail incidents?" He asked. "Yes." Jonah answered nodding. "Okay, I am going to try and retrieve the recording." Peter said.
"Can you do that?" Elliot asked, his voice filled with disbelief. Peter nodded, his eyes glued to the screen. "It is a long shot, but possible. Cell service networks often store call recordings for a short period, for quality assurance or legal reasons. I might be able to access it through a vulnerability in their system." He started typing again, his fingers a blur on the keyboard. The room was filled with the sound of rapid clicking and the hum of the computer. Tension hung in the air as they waited, their hopes rising with each passing second.