Chapter 4 - Four Missing Minutes
I called the security company from the hospital parking lot. A technician named Ross said the camera had lost connection briefly and restarted on its own. That happened sometimes, he told me, especially after storms. The explanation sounded ordinary enough to be convenient.
"Can you recover the missing section?" I asked.
"Not remotely. We'd need to inspect the local unit."
I told him to come to the estate first thing in the morning. Then I called Celeste Vaughn, my fiancee, who had been at the house that afternoon to help Lily choose a dress for a charity dinner.
"I heard about the scare," she said. Her voice was warm, soft with concern. "How is Lily?"
"Cold and shaken. Nora says someone may have opened the pool gate."
There was a tiny pause. "Nora? The swim teacher? Daniel, darling, don't let guilt make you gullible. These people always have an explanation when something goes wrong."
"She saved Lily."
"Or she made a mistake and wants you to blame a ghost. You need someone you can trust."
I looked through the hospital window at my daughter sleeping beneath a blanket. Celeste had been patient with Lily in public, buying books and arranging outings, but Lily never relaxed around her. I had told myself it was grief. Celeste had told me it was a phase.
"Did you go near the pool today?" I asked.
Another pause, longer this time. "No. I was in the house with Grace. Why would I go near the pool?"
I didn't know how to answer. I only knew I hadn't asked the right question yet.
When I returned home after midnight, I checked the camera unit myself. The cover was closed, the screws intact. But the cable had been unplugged, then pushed back into place.
Someone had not merely lost the signal.
May you like
Someone had touched it.
The pool system was installed after a neighbor's child wandered into our yard years earlier. I had paid for the best equipment and congratulated myself on being careful. It had never occurred to me that a camera could be useless if the person who controlled it wanted it useless.
