Chapter 3 - Someone Came After Midnight)
Grant did not go to the hospital immediately.
He wanted to.
Every instinct told him to take Noah away from the house and never return until every room had been searched.
But Dr. Harlan made a call and arranged for a pediatric specialist to receive them privately within the hour.
That gave Grant thirty minutes.
He used every second.
Two members of Mercer Security arrived first.
Daniel Ruiz entered with a former police investigator named Aaron Pike.
Grant handed Daniel the forged trust document.
Then he showed him the video.
Daniel watched without speaking.
When it ended, he looked at Vivienne.
"You should call an attorney."
Vivienne laughed.
"Is that supposed to intimidate me?"
"No."
Daniel pocketed his phone.
"It's advice."
The police arrived eleven minutes later.
By then Vivienne had changed tactics.
She was crying.
Not dramatically.
She was too intelligent for that.
Instead, she sat on the sofa with one hand against her cheek and spoke quietly about stress, misunderstanding and a caregiver who had become emotionally attached to the family.
Grant listened from across the room.
It was impressive.
She turned cruelty into pressure.
Intent into accident.
Evidence into context.
She admitted kicking Noah but insisted she had tried to stop herself from tripping over him.
The recording contradicted her.
She admitted swinging the vase but claimed she feared Tessa would strike her again.
The recording contradicted that too.
Still, Vivienne kept speaking.
She understood something most guilty people never learned.
A lie did not need to defeat evidence.
It only needed to create enough confusion around it.
Grant said nothing until one officer asked him whether Vivienne lived at the residence.
"Temporarily."
Vivienne looked at him.
The officer asked whether she had another residence.
"Yes," Grant said.
Vivienne's eyes flashed.
She owned a penthouse in Manhattan.
She had simply preferred Mercer House.
The officer spoke to her privately.
Then to Tessa.
Then Grant.
By the time they finished, Vivienne was informed that she would be leaving the property and that the matter would be referred for further investigation.
Grant did not feel satisfied.
He felt terrified.
Because during the interview, Tessa told him the rest.
Three weeks earlier she had heard Noah crying shortly after two in the morning.
She had a room in the staff wing whenever Grant traveled.
That night Grant had been in Chicago.
Tessa went to the nursery.
The door was slightly open.
Noah was standing in his crib, crying.
A window near the rocking chair was open.
No one was inside.
She assumed she had forgotten to lock it.
Two nights later it happened again.
This time the nursery window was closed.
The door was open.
Tessa searched the hallway.
Nothing.
A week later she woke to the sound of footsteps.
When she reached Noah's room, she saw the shadow of someone moving down the back staircase.
She followed.
By the time she reached the kitchen, the rear door was closing.
The outdoor camera showed nothing.
Its recording for that fifteen minute period had vanished.
Grant listened in silence.
"Why didn't you call me?"
"I did."
"No, you didn't."
"I called the number Vivienne gave me."
Grant looked toward her.
Vivienne sat across the room between two officers.
Tessa continued.
"She said your Chicago meetings were critical and that you had asked not to be disturbed unless Noah was sick."
"I never said that."
"I know that now."
Grant rubbed his forehead.
Tessa's voice broke.
"I thought I was protecting you from unnecessary worry."
Grant looked at her.
"You thought someone entered my son's room at two in the morning and you considered that unnecessary worry?"
She flinched.
He immediately regretted the sharpness.
Tessa had been protecting Noah while Grant remained blind.
The anger belonged somewhere else.
"I'm sorry."
She nodded.
Grant asked, "What happened after that?"
"I started keeping the portable monitor in different rooms."
"Why?"
"Because the main security system kept losing footage."
"And the documents?"
"I found the trust amendment four days ago."
"Why didn't you show me immediately?"
"I tried."
Grant frowned.
"When?"
"Tuesday."
He remembered Tuesday.
A board meeting.
Three missed calls from Tessa.
He had returned one.
Vivienne had answered his phone.
Grant's blood ran cold.
He remembered leaving the phone on the kitchen island while taking a shower after a workout.
Vivienne said Tessa had called about Noah refusing lunch.
Grant looked toward Vivienne.
She was watching him.
She knew exactly what he had just remembered.
Tessa continued.
"That evening Vivienne told me you were angry that I bothered you over household matters."
Grant said nothing.
"She said if I kept interfering in private family issues, you would fire me."
"And you believed her?"
"For a day."
"What changed?"
Tessa looked at Noah.
"Your son."
Grant waited.
"Yesterday Noah started crying when Vivienne entered the nursery."
Grant's throat tightened.
"Has he done that before?"
"Not like that."
Tessa's eyes filled.
"He crawled behind my legs."
Grant looked down at the baby in his arms.
Noah had fallen asleep from exhaustion.
His small hand remained clenched in Grant's shirt.
Grant had always believed children Noah's age forgot quickly.
Perhaps they did not.
Perhaps adults simply underestimated what fear could teach before language.
Daniel approached.
"We found the control tablet."
Vivienne's head turned.
Grant stood.
"Where?"
"Guest bedroom."
Vivienne immediately said, "That's my room. Everyone knows that tablet moves around the house."
Daniel ignored her.
"It was inside a suitcase."
Grant looked at Vivienne.
She crossed her arms.
"I packed it accidentally."
Daniel continued.
"The suitcase was zipped."
Vivienne's silence lasted half a second too long.
Grant said, "Bring it."
Daniel returned with the tablet in a clear evidence sleeve.
The police officer asked everyone not to touch it.
Daniel had already photographed the screen before sealing it.
He showed Grant the photo.
The system settings were visible.
Interior cameras disabled at 2:07 p.m.
Remote command authorized.
User profile: GMERCER.
Grant stared.
Someone had used his administrator account.
He knew the password.
Daniel knew an emergency recovery code.
No one else should have had access.
Vivienne smiled weakly.
"Apparently your security isn't very secure."
Daniel looked at Grant.
"There is more."
He swiped to the next photograph.
A list of scheduled commands appeared.
Grant read the first.
DISABLE INTERIOR CAMERAS.
Scheduled execution: Tuesday 1:30 a.m.
Another.
Thursday 2:00 a.m.
Another.
Saturday 1:45 a.m.
The schedule went back six weeks.
Grant looked toward Tessa.
Her face had gone white.
Those were the nights.
Someone had not discovered weaknesses in the security system.
Someone had created them.
Daniel lowered his voice.
"I want a forensic team on the tablet. If these commands were created locally, we may recover the access history."
Grant nodded.
Vivienne stood.
An officer immediately moved closer.
"I would like to leave now."
Grant looked at her.
She lifted her chin.
"You told me to leave."
"I did."
"So unless I am under arrest, I am going to my apartment."
One officer confirmed she was not being formally detained at that moment.
Grant hated hearing it.
Vivienne walked toward the door.
Then stopped beside him.
She looked at sleeping Noah.
For the first time, something almost human crossed her face.
Not guilt.
Regret.
But Grant could not tell what she regretted.
Hurting Noah?
Being caught?
Or losing whatever she had been trying to achieve?
She looked at Grant.
"You should ask Tessa who recommended her."
Grant frowned.
Vivienne opened the door.
"Because it wasn't me."
She stepped outside.
Grant turned toward Tessa.
Tessa looked confused.
"I applied through the agency."
Grant stared at her.
"What agency?"
"Brightwell Family Care."
Grant's stomach dropped.
He knew the name.
May you like
Brightwell had closed fourteen months ago.
Three months before Tessa had supposedly been hired through them.
