“Dad’s old phone was still connected to the same account as the replacement one, Mom.”
“But come over Sunday night.”
She showed me a saved location.
A small outdoor-supply store miles from Daniel’s usual route to the marina.
Timestamp: Sunday morning.
The day they disappeared.
“Why would he go there?”
Sophie shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
So we went.
***
An older employee studied the last photograph I’d taken in our driveway.
She showed me a saved location.
He stared at the boys.
Then pointed.
“These three.”
My heart jumped.
“You remember them?”
“Hard not to,” he said. “They argued for ten minutes over whistle colors.”
“Whistles?”
“Orange emergency whistles. Your husband bought one for each boy.”
That sounded exactly like Daniel.
“Orange emergency whistles. Your husband bought one for each boy.”
Then the man added, “And another adult flotation vest.”
I frowned.
“He already had one.”
The employee shrugged.
“Said his brother might meet them.”
***
I drove straight to Dean’s house.
He opened the door and took one look at my face.
“What happened, Andrea?”
I held up Daniel’s old phone.
Dean looked like he’d seen a ghost.
“You were supposed to go,” I muttered.
Silence.
“I changed my mind Sunday morning,” he finally whispered. “I was driving toward the lake when emergency vehicles passed me.”
I held my breath for a moment.
Dean’s eyes filled.
“I got there after the search started.”
Dean looked like he’d seen a ghost.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What would it have changed?”
“I deserved to know, Dean.”
He looked down.
“I’ve spent six years thinking if I’d been on that boat, maybe there would’ve been another adult,” he admitted. “Maybe I could’ve done something.”
“And you decided I couldn’t handle that?” I shot back.
“I deserved to know, Dean.”
“I thought you had enough, Andrea.”
I looked him straight in the eye.
“You didn’t get to decide what I could carry.”
He flinched.
Then I told him about the extra flotation vest.
Dean looked up.
“He bought that for me?”
“Apparently.”
His face crumpled.
“I never even used it.”
“You didn’t get to decide what I could carry.”
That became our next question.
If Dean never boarded the boat, where had the extra vest gone?
***
A retired search coordinator helped us review the old recovery inventory.
