“What is it?”
With a smirk, he handed her the light and stepped back, allowing her a chance to look into the open space behind the wall, right next to the firebox. There, resting on a wood beam, was a cell phone plugged into a charger that ran to a loose electrical box.
MJ slapped a hand over her mouth. “What the heck?”
“Let me see if I can reach it,” he said, easing her to the side to stick his arm all the way in. Making a face, he stretched and stretched, then slowly pulled his arm out, an iPhone dangling from a cord.
“How did that get in there?”
“Probably a construction worker who forgot it,” Matt said, touching the screen to bring it to life. Sliding his finger over the glass, he tapped the clock app, went to alarms, and there it was.
Daily Wake Up 3:00 AM What a Wonderful World
MJ let out a sound that was half gasp, half strangled laugh. “That’s…an alarm.”
“Yep.”
“In my wall.”
“Also yep.” He tugged the cord. “It’s been plugged in this whole time.”
“Who on Earth?—”
Matt followed the cord to the outlet. He tugged lightly, then frowned in concentration. “The charger’s plugged into an interior electrical socket. That socket must be live but wasn’t before, or it wouldn’t have passed code. Have you had any electrical work done recently?”
MJ felt her jaw open. “Jack had electricians at the lodge the morning of their wedding! One of the speakers in the Starling Room was wonky and they had to do something to the circuit breaker.”
“They most likely brought this old outlet to life and—wham—you’re getting some poor guy’s three o’clock wake-up call.” He tapped a few times and brought the phone’s home screen up, showing a picture of a muscular man with a baby on his knee.
“Oh! That’s…Izzy! He built the fireplace. He told me he drove all the way from Ogden and had to get up at three to get to the gym and make it here by seven. And that’s his baby…little Ashton.” She smiled, remembering the kind young man who her contractor said was one of the best stone masons in Utah.
“So he accidentally left his phone charging and you never heard it because they closed up the wall?—”
“Goodness, yes. They finished the drywall when Izzy was out for a few days. They must have missed the phone and the socket went dead…until the electrician activated the line.”
“The phone came back to life,” he finished. “Izzy’s alarm started going off again.”
MJ blinked as the puzzle pieces fell into place and the picture was…not scary or supernatural or confusing. It all made sense.
Matt chuckled at the look on her face. “Do you have a way to reach Izzy to tell him you have his phone?”
“I’ll call the contractor,” she said, shaking her head as a wave of warm relief washed over her.
“So the mystery is solved,” Matt said, a slow smile lifting his lips. “Do you feel better?”
She sighed. “Yes, I do. Thank you, Matt.” She wiped at her eyes, surprised to find they had tears in them. “I feel like I can breathe again,” she confessed.
Putting the phone down, he wrapped her in a tight hug. “Honey, I didn’t know your wonderful husband, but I do have this much in common with him—he loved you, and so do I.”
MJ felt a little wobbly. “Oh, Matt.”
She pulled back and looked at him in the bright living room lights, seeing everything so clearly now.
“George wouldn’t have wanted me to be scared,” she said quietly. “He wouldn’t have wanted me lonely. I know that.”
Matt’s eyes were steady on hers. “I think he’d want you happy.”
“I think so, too.” Her voice shook. “And I think he’d like you.”
