Chapter 10 - The Camera Backup
The security technician arrived at seven the next morning. He recovered part of the missing footage from a backup unit in the garage, where an older camera still recorded the side gate. The picture was grainy, but the timestamp was clear.
At 3:31, a figure in a blue scarf entered the garden path carrying a cream envelope. At 3:37, the same figure opened the pool gate and stood there for several seconds. At 3:40, the figure left through the hedge path. Lily appeared less than a minute later.
The camera did not show a face. It did show a silver bracelet on the figure's right wrist, shaped like a thin chain with a small star charm.
Celeste wore that bracelet almost every day.
I watched the footage twice, then a third time. Each viewing made the room feel smaller. The person on the screen had not simply walked past the pool. She had stopped, opened the gate, and waited.
"Could be anyone," Celeste said when I showed her the still image. She had arrived without warning, as if she sensed we were talking about her. "You cannot identify a person from a scarf and a bracelet."
"You own both."
"So do other people."
"Grace saw you."
Celeste's expression hardened. "Grace is frightened of losing her job. Nora is frightened of being sued. Lily is a child who doesn't understand what she saw. You're building a case out of scraps because you can't accept that accidents happen."
I almost believed her. Then the technician zoomed in on the final frame before the figure left.
The envelope had slipped open.
May you like
Inside was a photograph of Emily.
The technician explained that the backup camera had a separate power supply and could not be cut from the same panel. It had captured only a narrow slice of the garden, but narrow evidence was still evidence. For the first time since Lily fell, I felt the truth might have somewhere to stand.
