Chapter 2 - someone in the house)
Mark moved before Elena could speak.
“Stay here.”
He crossed the living room toward the basement corridor.
Elena grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Mark looked down at her hand.
“You don’t know who’s down there.”
“I need to find out.”
“You have Sophie to think about.”
Mark looked at the baby.
That stopped him.
Sophie rested against Elena’s chest, one tiny fist curled beneath her chin.
Victoria stood near the staircase.
She was staring toward the basement door.
Not frightened.
Listening.
Elena noticed.
“Who’s down there, Victoria?”
Victoria turned sharply.
“No one.”
“You didn’t even ask what happened.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The security storage was removed.”
“I heard Mark.”
“No. Before he said it.”
Victoria’s expression flickered.
Mark saw it too.
Three sharp knocks sounded at the front door.
“Police.”
Mark exhaled.
He opened the door.
Two officers entered while a paramedic team followed. The next several minutes became a blur of questions, medical checks and clipped instructions.
Elena refused to let Sophie out of her sight until Mark assured her that one of the paramedics could examine the baby while she remained nearby.
The paramedic checked Sophie carefully.
“She appears responsive and stable, but because of the fall, she needs a full evaluation at the hospital.”
“She didn’t hit the ground,” Elena said.
“You caught her?”
“Yes.”
The paramedic glanced toward the staircase and then at Elena.
“You may have saved her life.”
Elena looked down.
She did not feel heroic.
She felt sick.
Across the room, Victoria was speaking to Officer Daniel Cole.
“She lost control of Sophie,” Victoria said tearfully. “I tried to reach them.”
Elena stepped forward.
“That’s a lie.”
Officer Cole raised his hand.
“We’re going to speak to everyone separately.”
Victoria looked at Elena with tears running beautifully down her face.
It was almost convincing.
Almost.
Mark handed Sophie to the paramedic only after climbing into the ambulance himself.
“I’m going with her.”
Elena immediately followed.
Victoria approached.
“I’m her mother.”
Mark turned.
“No.”
One word.
Victoria stopped.
Mark looked at Officer Cole.
“She stays here.”
Victoria stared at him.
“You can’t keep me from my daughter.”
“Until I understand what happened, I can.”
“She’s my baby too.”
Mark’s jaw tightened.
“Then you should want the truth.”
The ambulance doors closed before Victoria could answer.
At the hospital, Sophie was taken for examination.
Elena sat in a chair outside the pediatric imaging room, staring at her scratched palms.
Mark stood against the wall.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Finally Mark said, “Tell me everything.”
Elena looked up.
“About today?”
“About Victoria.”
Elena hesitated.
Mark noticed.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Elena stared toward the closed door where Sophie had disappeared.
“There were things.”
“What things?”
“Small things.”
“Start with the first one.”
Elena remembered her first week in the house.
Victoria had entered Sophie’s nursery and found Elena rocking the baby.
“She told me I was holding Sophie too much.”
Mark frowned.
“She said Sophie needed to learn that people disappear.”
“What?”
“I thought she was frustrated.”
“That’s not normal.”
“No.”
“What else?”
Elena rubbed her palms together.
“She moved things and blamed me. Sophie’s formula. Your keys. A bracelet. Once she put one of her earrings inside my bag.”
Mark’s eyes narrowed.
“How do you know she put it there?”
“I saw her reflection in the nursery mirror.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I needed the job.”
Mark said nothing.
Elena continued.
“And because every time I thought about telling you, she reminded me that you would believe your wife.”
Mark looked away.
Elena regretted the words immediately, but they were true.
A doctor entered the hallway.
Mark straightened.
“Sophie is extremely fortunate.”
Elena stood.
“No fractures. No signs of head trauma. We’re going to observe her for several hours, but everything looks reassuring.”
Mark closed his eyes.
Elena covered her mouth.
The doctor looked at her.
“You caught her before impact?”
Elena nodded.
“You did exactly what she needed.”
When the doctor left, Mark sat beside Elena.
For a moment he looked less like a wealthy homeowner and more like a terrified father who had almost lost the most important person in his life.
“I should have seen it,” he whispered.
Elena did not answer.
His phone vibrated.
Officer Cole.
Mark put the call on speaker.
“We cleared the house,” Cole said. “No one was found inside.”
Mark frowned.
“Then who removed the recorder?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Was it physically taken?”
“Yes.”
“From the basement security cabinet?”
“Yes.”
Mark stood.
“Whoever removed it had to be there.”
“There’s another possibility.”
Mark waited.
“The system can report the storage as removed if the recorder is disconnected remotely.”
“Can someone do that?”
“If the unit is connected to a smart power switch.”
Mark rubbed his forehead.
“Mine is.”
“We’re checking logs.”
Elena looked at Mark.
Officer Cole continued.
“We also found something you need to know.”
“What?”
“The basement door leading to the backyard was unlocked.”
Mark went still.
“That door stays locked.”
“Not today.”
“Did you find prints?”
“We’re processing it.”
“And Victoria?”
“She’s asking for an attorney.”
Mark’s expression darkened.
There was a short pause.
Then Officer Cole said, “Mr. Carter, did you authorize anyone to access your home security system today?”
“No.”
“Not a technician?”
“No.”
“Not a contractor?”
“No.”
“Then someone logged into your administrator account from inside your network at 2:47 p.m.”
Mark checked the time.
“That was before Sophie fell.”
“Four minutes before.”
Elena felt cold.
Someone had disabled the camera before Victoria carried Sophie upstairs.
That meant the missing recording had not been an accident.
Officer Cole lowered his voice.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“The login didn’t come from Victoria’s phone.”
Mark looked at Elena.
Elena shook her head.
“It wasn’t mine.”
Cole answered before Mark could ask.
“It came from your phone, Mr. Carter.”
Mark slowly looked at the device in his hand.
“That’s impossible.”
“Where was your phone at 2:47?”
Mark stared at the screen.
“In my office.”
“Were you there?”
“No.”
“Then who was?”
Mark’s face changed.
He remembered something.
He opened his call history.
A message thread was already open.
One he had not opened.
At the bottom was a deleted message notification.
The recipient was listed only as M.
Elena leaned closer.
Mark whispered, “I don’t know anyone saved as M.”
Another message suddenly appeared.
Unknown sender.
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One sentence.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THE CAMERA STAY DEAD.
