Chapter 3 - Camera Three.
Reese entered the foyer while the paramedics carried Elena toward the ambulance.
He wore no uniform, but his badge was visible at his belt.
Vanessa stiffened the moment she saw it.
"Why are detectives here already?"
Adrian answered too quickly.
"Probably because the ambulance called them."
Reese heard him.
"The ambulance did not call us."
He stopped beside the staircase and studied the room.
Eleanor folded her arms.
"Then who did?"
Reese looked toward Elena on the stretcher.
"Mrs. Howard did."
Vanessa's face lost its color.
Adrian stared at his wife.
Elena did not look back.
Reese gave instructions to two officers, who immediately closed the foyer doors and asked the household staff to remain inside.
"Nobody deletes anything."
"Nobody removes anything."
"Nobody leaves until we've spoken to them."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"This is my home."
"At the moment, it's also the location of a serious incident involving a pregnant woman."
Reese's tone stayed polite.
That made it more threatening.
Vanessa began shaking her head.
"I told them what happened."
"She attacked me."
Reese glanced upward.
"Good."
"Then the footage should help you."
Vanessa followed his eyes to the ceiling.
She saw nothing.
"What footage?"
Reese walked toward a framed abstract painting beside the staircase.
He pointed to a dark pinprick hidden inside its upper corner.
"Camera three."
Adrian stepped forward.
"We don't have cameras inside the house."
Reese gave him a measured look.
"You didn't."
That single sentence changed the room.
Eleanor turned toward Elena.
Understanding moved slowly across her face.
Vanessa stared at the painting.
Her breathing became audible.
Reese continued.
"Mrs. Howard reported repeated threats several weeks ago."
"She was advised to document anything relevant to her safety."
Adrian's anger finally surfaced.
"She put surveillance in my house without telling me?"
Elena answered from the stretcher.
"Our house."
Her voice was weak but steady.
Adrian looked at her with open hatred.
The paramedics began moving again.
Vanessa stepped toward Reese.
"Then show it."
"Show everyone that she came at me."
Reese studied her for a moment.
"We will preserve the recording first."
"Then we'll review it properly."
Vanessa seemed relieved by the delay.
That relief lasted only seconds.
An officer approached Reese holding a small digital recorder.
"Detective, the local storage box is missing."
Reese's eyes shifted toward Adrian.
"Missing?"
The officer nodded.
"The cabinet behind the library wall was opened recently."
Adrian spread his hands.
"I don't know anything about that."
Elena closed her eyes again.
The local storage box had been the obvious target.
That was why it contained almost nothing.
Every camera in the mansion uploaded encrypted copies somewhere else.
Only Reese knew where.
But before Elena could relax, the officer added something unexpected.
"There's blood inside the cabinet."
Reese looked sharply toward the service corridor.
"Whose blood?"
Nobody answered.
From the back of the room, Maria the housekeeper whispered a name.
"Thomas."
Adrian's personal assistant had not been seen since morning.
Reese ordered officers to photograph the cabinet before anyone touched the blood.
Adrian demanded his attorney and accused Reese of turning a family accident into theater.
Reese answered that accidents did not usually require missing storage devices and bleeding employees.
Vanessa stopped crying at that.
For the first time, she looked toward the rear doors rather than Elena.
Reese noticed.
May you like
So did Eleanor.
The old woman's protective grip on Vanessa's arm loosened by half an inch.
