"They picked that place over pretty thoroughly. There's probably not much left for you to see."
"Please, Phil. Either you take me there, or I'll get some other officer assigned. I need to investigate it."
He checked his watch. "Sure, let's go."
When they got there, Phil removed the police tape from the garage door and stepped inside. "Don't touch anything, Constance. Let me know if you need something done." He pulled on gloves.
So this is the garage where he's lived for so long. Constance marveled at the tiny space. A high horizontal window in the garage door let in some light. Other than that, the place was as inviting as a jail cell. The cold concrete floor had a tattered carpet remnant thrown down. A minuscule bathroom had been added in the corner, and a motel-scale kitchen sported a small refrigerator, microwave, hot plate, and sink. No wonder Nick didn't mind isolation.
His mattress was propped against the wall, and a card table was folded up next to it. The most elegant piece of furniture was definitely the desk Nick had mentioned. She stared at it and tried to imagine a pulsing light coming from the bottom drawer. Nothing came to her.
She walked over to it. "Phil, open the bottom drawer for me. I'm curious about it."
He pulled it open. "Looks like food storage." He started to remove the contents. When the drawer was empty, he shrugged. "Nothing interesting here."
"Might there be something on the back or bottom of the drawer? A false bottom?"
"Let's pull it out and see." Phil unlatched the drawer and removed it from the desk. They turned it over and examined every surface.
Still nothing.
Damn. What good is active consciousness if all it shows you is a moldy loaf of bread? Constance sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "All right. Never mind."
Phil started to put the drawer back in, then stopped. "Hey! Look at this." He set the drawer aside and pointed. With the drawer removed, they could see down to the floor under the desk. Sitting on the floor was a cell phone.
"An old, lost phone?"
Phil got closer and examined it. "I don't think so. There's hardly any dust on it."
He took a picture of the phone where it sat, and so did Constance. Then he took out a plastic bag and carefully placed the phone in it. The drawer got reinstalled and the food was returned. Once everything was back in place, Phil regarded the desk more carefully. "Look. There's a gap under the bottom drawer. The phone might have gotten kicked under the desk."