Chapter 1 - THE CAMERA ABOVE THE STAIRS“DON’T BELIEVE HER! LOOK WHERE HE’S POINTING!”
“DON’T BELIEVE HER! LOOK WHERE HE’S POINTING!”
The dark-haired woman’s scream stopped everyone cold. The little boy was still sobbing against her chest, but his trembling finger remained aimed toward the ceiling. His father followed that tiny finger upward. Above the staircase, almost hidden in the shadows, a black security camera stared silently down at them.
For several seconds, nobody moved. The red-haired woman in the green dress suddenly lost the fury in her eyes. Her face went pale. Only moments earlier, she had insisted the other woman attacked her without reason. Now the child had pointed toward the one witness in the mansion that could not be threatened, bribed, or frightened.
“What’s on that camera?” the father demanded.
“Nothing,” the red-haired woman answered too quickly. “It hasn’t worked for months.”
The dark-haired woman tightened her arms around the boy. She had seen the woman shove him near the staircase. She had rushed forward before he could tumble farther. Yet when the father entered, he had seen only the final seconds—the struggle, the screaming, and his fiancée stumbling backward.
The little boy buried his wet face against his rescuer’s shoulder. Then he whispered something so quietly his father nearly missed it.
“She did it before.”
The father’s expression changed.
“What did you say?”
The boy looked toward the woman in green, and terror returned to his eyes.
“She told me Daddy wouldn’t believe me.”
The room became unbearably quiet.
The red-haired woman stepped backward toward the staircase. “He’s confused. He’s a child.”
But the father was no longer looking at her.
He was staring at the camera.
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“Then we’ll let the recording decide.”
And for the first time, she looked genuinely afraid.
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