Chapter 10 - What the Camera Saw
The recovered video had no sound.
It did not need any.
Richard watched Victoria place Maya in a chair near the closet.
The child tried to climb down.
Victoria forced her back into the seat.
Graham stood near the door, checking his watch.
Then Victoria pointed toward the dark walk-in closet.
Maya began shaking her head.
“No,” Richard whispered at the screen.
Victoria opened the closet door.
The video glitched.
When it returned, Maya was inside.
The door was closed.
Victoria stood outside it with her arms folded while Graham adjusted something on the camera panel.
Richard could not move.
Daniel stopped the video.
“There’s another fragment.”
“Play it.”
“Richard—”
“Play it.”
The next clip began three minutes later.
Victoria opened the closet.
Maya stumbled out crying.
Graham leaned down and pointed toward the hall as if giving instructions.
Victoria’s lips moved.
Even without sound, Richard recognized the shape of the words.
Go find Daddy.
A cold realization spread through him.
They had wanted Maya to run to him crying.
They wanted the child to look unstable.
Not only frightened.
Unstable.
The sleep medication. The staged panic. The disappearing camera footage.
They were building a story around his daughter.
Daniel seemed to reach the same conclusion.
“If they could convince you she had severe behavioral problems...”
“They could get doctors involved,” Richard said.
“Evaluations. Residential treatment later.”
“And if she was declared permanently incapacitated?”
Neither man finished the sentence.
The trust clause finished it for them.
Richard walked into the library where Victoria waited.
He placed the laptop in front of her and played the clip.
Her face went white.
“Where is Graham?” he asked.
Victoria looked at the frozen screen.
May you like
Then she said something Richard never expected.
“You need to find him before he finds Maya.”
