Chapter 14 - Someone at the Gate
Ortiz treated the anonymous photograph as a threat. She ordered the family to keep Sophie away from windows and reviewed every employee's access badge. Daniel moved himself and Sophie to a guarded apartment, leaving the mansion to investigators and the estate lawyers.
Emily helped pack Sophie's favorite books, but she refused Daniel's offer to move into the apartment.
“I won't be dependent on your family again,” she told him. “Not after what happened.”
“I understand.”
“Please keep understanding when it's inconvenient.”
Detectives traced the photograph to Victor Sloane's surveillance team. One investigator had used an old contractor badge to enter the grounds and photograph Sophie. The same team had supplied the cropped image of Emily.
Sloane's office contained a list of scheduled actions. One entry read: “Driveway incident – record father reaction.” Another named a photographer and a standby public-relations consultant.
“Patricia planned for you to hit someone?” Daniel asked when Ortiz briefed him.
“We believe she planned to create a crisis and exploit whatever you did. Your choice to strike Emily was yours. That doesn't make the trap less real.”
Daniel nodded. He wanted someone to say he had been tricked and therefore wasn't responsible. Nobody did, and he was beginning to understand why.
That night, the technicians finally recovered ninety-four seconds of garage footage. The image flickered, its sound damaged, but it clearly showed Patricia beside Sophie's stroller at the top of the slope.
She glanced down the driveway. She bent to the brake. Then she put both hands against the handle and pushed.
The stroller lurched away. Patricia stepped back instead of running after it.
In the recording, Emily appeared at the bottom of the hill, sprinting into its path.
May you like
Ortiz stopped the video there. “There's something you need to see in the final frame.”
Patricia had looked up at the camera, smiled faintly, and held a silver remote in her hand.
