Chapter 9 - The Camera
Then we watched the Christmas dinner camera footage.
The video caught Diane stepping into my path and whispering, "You should have taken the offer."
I had not heard it before the slap.
Then her hand struck my face.
My body hit the table.
The soup fell.
Ryan watched me scream.
And smiled.
Not a big smile.
A tiny one.
A private one.
Monica paused the video.
"You saw that?"
Charles looked physically sick.
"Play it again."
We did.
Ryan smiled before he said, Maybe now you'll learn how to behave in this family.
That meant the cruelty was not spontaneous.
They had expected a confrontation.
Maybe they had wanted one.
The camera also showed Diane following Charles into his study two days earlier, waiting outside the door, then slipping inside after he left.
She stayed four minutes.
Long enough to watch him open the safe.
"That's how she got the combination," Charles whispered.
Monica skipped ahead.
Christmas night, after I left for the hospital, Victor entered through the side door. Ryan met him. Diane carried a black document case from the study.
Then something unexpected happened.
Rosa, the housekeeper, stepped into the hall.
Victor grabbed her arm.
The microphone picked up his voice.
"You didn't see anything."
Rosa pulled away.
Diane said, "She understands who pays her."
The footage ended when Victor reached toward the camera.
Black screen.
I called Rosa.
No answer.
Charles called.
Nothing.
We searched the house.
Her room was empty.
Her coat was gone.
Her purse was still on the dresser.
Then Monica found Rosa's phone under the guest-room bed.
The screen was cracked.
May you like
There was one unsent draft message addressed to me.
MRS EMILY, I KNOW WHERE THEY TOOK THE PAPERS. I ALSO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FATHER.
