Chapter 5 - The Cloud Doesn't Lie
|
Late that evening, Sarah Vance walked into my hospital room carrying a heavy leather briefcase. She was a tall woman in her fifties with silver-streaked hair, sharp blue eyes, and an unmistakable air of authority.
She sat in the visitor’s chair, opened her laptop, and adjusted her glasses.
“How are you feeling, Elena?” Sarah asked softly.
“I’m ready,” I replied. “Did you access the system?”
Sarah smiled—a small, dangerous smile. “Your father was a brilliant man, Elena. When he hired the security company to wire the house on Hawthorne Lane three years ago, he didn't just install visible cameras. He built a secondary, closed-circuit system hidden inside the garage rafters.”
My heart hammered against my ribs. “And it recorded the kitchen?”
“The camera lens was concealed inside the smoke detector near the garage connecting door,” Sarah explained, turning her laptop toward me. “It captured the entire ground floor layout, including clear audio.”
She pressed spacebar.
The video lit up the dim hospital room.
I saw myself standing near the stove, stirring the pot. I saw Julian enter the frame, his face twisted in anger as he demanded I sign the house deed over to him. I heard my own voice, steady and brave, refusing to give up my father’s legacy.
And then, I heard the conversation that happened moments before the attack.
Julian was standing near the doorway, whispering to Evelyn.
“She won't sign it, Mom,” Julian’s recorded voice rang out clearly through the laptop speakers. “She’s holding onto that house like a lifeline.”
Evelyn’s cold voice responded immediately: “Then we make her sign. Or we make it look like a pregnancy accident. Once she’s incapacitated or gone, as her husband, you inherit the title automatically.”
I covered my mouth as tears spilled down my cheeks. It wasn't just a sudden burst of temper. It was premeditated.
May you like
“They planned it,” I whispered, horrified.
“They did,” Sarah said, closing the laptop with a firm snap. “And tomorrow morning, Detective Marcus Hale from the Special Investigations Unit is coming to see you.”
