The Day I Dropped My Husband at the Airport, My Eight-Year-Old Daughter Warned Me Not to Go Home. Minutes Later, I Saw Why.

“That’s okay.

You don’t need to tell me more right now.”

I stepped away to call Detective Navarro, leaving Rachel with Lily.

Before police arrived, I wrote down exactly where we had found the device and who had touched it.

I did not inspect the messages or let curiosity persuade me to turn it on.

Whatever it contained needed to be handled in a way that could be trusted later.

After the evidence technician left, Lily asked whether the phone was gone forever.