Chapter 8 - the woman in the reflection
Nobody spoke for nearly a minute.
On the screen, Barbara replaced the bottle in her pocket.
William entered the room seconds later.
He sat.
He drank.
The recording continued.
At 8:42 p.m., William rubbed his chest.
At 8:48, he stood unsteadily.
At 8:51, he collapsed.
Mark rushed into frame.
Barbara screamed for him to call an ambulance.
Emily watched her husband's face as he stared at the worst night of his life from an angle he had never seen.
"I was in the kitchen," Mark whispered.
The recording showed him kneeling beside William.
Barbara hovered behind him.
Then something happened.
While Mark looked toward the front door waiting for paramedics, Barbara reached into William's jacket.
She removed an envelope.
Then she disappeared upstairs.
The video cut.
Daniel rewound it.
"The envelope."
Thomas nodded.
"Trust documents."
Mark shook his head.
"I can't believe this."
Emily wanted to comfort him.
But before she could, Daniel froze the frame.
"Wait."
He enlarged the glass cabinet beside the dining room.
The image was distorted, but the reflection showed another figure standing outside the room.
A woman.
Emily leaned closer.
"Who is that?"
Mark stared.
"I don't know."
Thomas stood.
"I do."
The woman was younger than Barbara.
Dark hair.
White jacket.
Thomas said one name.
"Laura Bennett."
"Who's Laura Bennett?" Emily asked.
"Barbara's former assistant."
"Former?"
"She disappeared after William died."
"Disappeared?"
"Quit. Closed her apartment. Changed her number."
Daniel searched.
Laura Bennett had no recent employment records.
No active social media.
No utility accounts under her name.
No property.
No driver's license renewal.
It was as though she had vanished.
But someone had been texting Emily.
Emily thought of the anonymous warnings.
DO NOT OPEN THE CARD INSIDE YOUR HOUSE.
YOUR HOME NETWORK IS NOT SAFE.
LOOK AT THE VIDEO FROM 8:17 PM SUNDAY.
"Laura," she whispered.
Daniel nodded.
"Possible."
Emily replied to the unknown number.
ARE YOU LAURA?
No answer.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
Then:
DO NOT GO TO THE POLICE YET.
Mark stared.
"Why?"
Another message.
THE DETECTIVE WHO HANDLED WILLIAM'S DEATH KNOWS BARBARA.
Daniel swore.
Emily typed:
WHERE ARE YOU?
The reply came immediately.
WHERE BARBARA CAN'T FIND ME.
"Ask what she saw," Thomas said.
Emily typed.
DID YOU SEE BARBARA POISON WILLIAM?
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
Finally:
I SAW MORE THAN THAT.
Emily's skin prickled.
WHAT?
No reply.
Instead, Laura sent a photograph.
A medical consent form.
Patient name:
EMILY CARTER.
Procedure:
Emergency psychiatric evaluation.
Date:
Two weeks in the future.
Emily stared.
"What the hell is this?"
Mark took the phone.
"Why would there be a form for an evaluation that hasn't happened?"
Thomas's expression darkened.
"Because Barbara isn't finished."
Another image arrived.
Temporary emergency guardianship petition.
Petitioner:
Barbara Carter.
Minor:
Chloe Carter.
Grounds:
Maternal instability, violent behavior, risk of child abduction.
Emily felt suddenly sick.
Barbara had anticipated the slap.
Or something like it.
She had created a situation.
Locked Chloe outside.
Provoked Emily.
Perhaps hoping the security camera would capture Emily striking her.
Emily looked at Daniel.
"The camera."
He understood.
"Barbara wanted footage of you attacking her."
"And the rest could disappear."
Mark stared at the documents.
"My mother staged tonight."
Emily whispered, "Yes."
A third image arrived.
It was a photograph taken through a windshield.
Barbara stood outside the Carter house.
Beside her was Detective Samuel Grant.
The detective who had closed William's death investigation.
The timestamp was twenty minutes earlier.
Thomas stood.
"We need to move."
"Why?"
May you like
Daniel pointed toward the restaurant window.
A police cruiser had just entered the parking lot.
