Chapter 5 - the camera that never disconnected
Evelyn stepped back from the door.
The recording played again.
Sophie, run to Evelyn.
It sounded like Nora.
Not exactly as Evelyn remembered her, but close enough to make the cold morning air feel suddenly thin.
She pressed her ear against the door.
A second voice followed, lower and mechanical.
Test completed. Voice reconstruction at eighty-seven percent.
Evelyn’s fear turned into anger.
Someone had been using recordings of Nora’s voice.
She returned to the main house without entering the west wing. Preston was in the courtyard speaking with the wedding photographer.
When he saw her, he ended the conversation.
“Where were you?”
“Walking.”
“You should have told security.”
“I wasn’t leaving the property.”
He took her hand, but she withdrew it.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” he asked.
“Should I be?”
“Everyone is nervous before a wedding.”
“Were you in Room 17 last night?”
His smile remained in place.
“There is no Room 17.”
“That answer would be more convincing if you weren’t carrying its key.”
He glanced at his jacket.
Evelyn continued before he could respond.
“Sophie heard you planning to frame her.”
“That is absurd.”
“She heard a woman speaking through a computer.”
Preston’s expression hardened.
“You cannot keep letting an eight-year-old control our relationship.”
“She is not controlling anything.”
“She has interrupted every important moment we’ve had. Our engagement dinner. The Hawthorne charity gala. The meeting in Geneva.”
“She had pneumonia during the Geneva meeting.”
“She always needs you when I do.”
Evelyn looked into the face of the man she had planned to marry.
For the first time, she allowed herself to see the resentment he had hidden beneath patience and expensive gifts.
“What happens to Sophie after we marry?”
“She lives with us.”
“Where?”
“At the city residence.”
“There is no bedroom prepared for her.”
“We can arrange one.”
“I checked the renovation plans. Every room has been assigned.”
Preston’s jaw tightened.
“There is a boarding school outside Boston. Your mother believes it would provide stability.”
“My mother does not make decisions for my daughter.”
“Perhaps she should.”
Evelyn stepped away.
Preston caught her wrist.
The movement was quick, almost casual, but his grip was too strong.
“Do not create a public scene over a child’s imagination.”
Evelyn looked down at his hand.
He released her.
Neither of them spoke.
Across the courtyard, an elderly man in a security uniform had witnessed everything.
Marcus Hale had supervised security at the estate and family hotels for more than twenty years. He had also been one of the last people to see Nora before she disappeared.
He approached Evelyn after Preston left.
“Mrs. Mercer.”
She still used the surname of her late husband, though the marriage had ended in widowhood before she adopted Sophie.
“Marcus, does the camera system cover the west wing?”
“It used to.”
“What happened?”
“Your mother ordered it disconnected after Miss Nora’s accident.”
“Is it disconnected?”
Marcus looked toward the upper windows.
“No camera in this family has ever been completely disconnected.”
He slipped a small card into Evelyn’s hand.
It contained an address and a six-digit code.
“What is this?”
“A backup server.”
“Why are you giving it to me?”
“Because someone accessed Room 17 last night.”
May you like
“Who?”
“The system says it was your sister.”
