“It means when the receiver fell off the base upstairs, the circuit never broke,” Ray said.

“Somebody had wired a secondary extension cord straight into the outlet farther down the hall.”

Daniel looked at the frayed green wire hanging off the back of the junction casing.

“So the open line stayed live because of that second wire.”

“That’s it exactly,” Ray said.

“Whoever did this knew enough about home wiring to get around the hook switch.

But there’s something else in the plaster.”