Chapter 4 - THE CAMERA ABOVE THE WATER
At nine the next morning, Ryan returned to the venue with our neighbor June Patel, who had promised not to let him lose his temper.
I stayed in the hospital while a nurse helped me eat breakfast with my left hand. Ordinary tasks had become humiliating. The ache in my shoulder was nothing compared with hearing strangers call me a liar.
The venue manager, Evelyn Shaw, said security footage was automatically overwritten.
“Overnight?” June asked.
Evelyn looked at the carpet. “A request came through from the event coordinator.”
“Whose request?” Ryan said.
“Mr. Weller's office.”
Evelyn insisted she hadn't authorized deleting anything. Ryan asked her to preserve what remained and wrote the request down, with the time and her name.
Outside, a young bartender named Luis caught up with him.
“The camera above the pool was pointed right at them,” Luis said. “I saw the monitor when it happened. She went sideways into your mom.”
“Will you tell the police?”
Luis swallowed. “I work here. Graham's company owns half the contracts in town.”
“I'm not asking you to invent anything.”
“That's why I'm scared.”
He gave Ryan the name of the independent company that maintained the cameras. June called its office. A technician said some footage might still exist in a remote backup, but it would require an authorized preservation request.
Teresa prepared one that afternoon.
Then a wedding guest, an elderly woman named Celia, sent me a video taken while she photographed the flowers. In the corner of the frame, Paige was crossing toward me.
May you like
Her path was clear. She changed direction anyway.
Three seconds before the impact, Paige looked over her shoulder to make sure Ryan wasn't watching.
