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Monday - September 13

Seven. Thanks for your help. Goodbye.

Before Claire can close the chat box, Danielle replies with an unusual query.

Why are you interested in Neptune?

Claire falls back into her chair, wondering if she should answer the question, or just close out of chat. Thinking of how to respond, she starts to feel paranoid, and begins to wonder if anyone else, besides Danielle, may be reading these messages. Not wanting to draw any suspicions, Claire replies to Danielle.

I don't really have any special interest. I was just curious to know what the symbol meant. Thanks for your help.

Waiting to see if Danielle will reply, Claire takes the key and puts it back into the box. A bell dings, signally that a message has arrived.

Be careful!

Danielle signs off.

Be careful? Who is this Danielle? Becoming more paranoid, Claire picks up the box and scampers around the house, figuring out where to hide it. Dashing from room to room, she stops in the hallway to think where she can hide it, but nothing comes to mind. Closing her eyes to think of the best place to hide the key, Claire projects a witty smile, and rushes to the laundry room.

The laundry room is small, but it is the perfect place to hide the key. Claire sets the box down on the dryer, and with all her might, pulls the dryer away from the wall so she can get behind it. With just enough room to squeeze behind the dryer, Claire is able to remove the dryer hose from the vent, and then places the box inside. Noticing the box could easily slip out, she rushes to the kitchen and grabs a roll of duct tape from the utility drawer. Rushing back to the laundry room, she tears off a decent length of the tape, and tapes the box to the inside of the vent hose as far back as it will go. Making sure the box is secure, Claire reconnects the hose and pushes the dryer back into place.

Leaning on the dryer and breathing heavily, Claire notices black marks on the floor from where the dryer dragged. Getting down on her knees, she inspects the marks and says, "Scouring powder will remove this."

Leaping to her feet, she runs to the kitchen to grab some cleanser and a wet sponge. When she returns, she graciously pours cleanser on the marks and scrubs the marks as hard as she can until they finally disappear. Satisfied that the laundry room doesn't show any signs of disturbance, Claire grabs the cleanser and heads to the kitchen to wash her hands. She then decides to check over the photo of the seven men one more time.

When Claire returns to her computer, she notices that someone sent her an email. She clicks on to the envelope to open the message.

Be careful!

"What?" Claire says frantically. Totally paranoid, Claire looks around the apartment to make sure she's alone. She sits down to read the entire message.

Be careful! Raw fish can be poisonous.

Reading the message again and again, Claire is completely clueless as to what "raw fish can be poisonous" means. Wanting to know who the sender is, she clicks onto the header, which doesn't provide any further details. With a deep sigh, Claire decides to become dubious about researching everything she has discovered.

Claire notices that the computer clock reads 5:00 p.m. Her whole day has been unbelievable, and she doesn't know what to do about the key or email. Desperately wanting to talk to me, she gets up to locate her phone. Remembering that she left it on the kitchen table, Claire goes to retrieve it and speed dials my number. My phone rings once before going directly to voicemail. Not wanting to leave a message, she hangs up, holding tightly onto the phone, and begins anxiously pacing back and forth. Remembering she wanted to look at the photo again, Claire goes back to the desk to see if there are any more clues to uncover.