Chapter 7 - The Garage
The garage looked normal.
Dad’s truck.
Old tools.
Boxes from Christmas.
A freezer.
Then Megan noticed the camera over the side door.
Not ours.
Small.
White.
Hidden behind a shelf.
Susan stared.
“Who installed that?”
Dad shook his head.
I pulled it down.
No branding.
No memory card.
Inside sat a small recorder.
Four camera feeds.
Kitchen.
Garage.
Dad’s office.
And the upstairs hallway outside the guest room where Lily slept.
My stomach turned.
“How long?”
Susan checked the timestamps.
“Six months.”
Dad sat on a workbench.
“She was recording me?”
“Looks like it.”
“Why?”
The answer was in the archive.
We watched clips.
Karen entering Dad’s office.
Photographing bank statements.
Opening mail.
Copying keys.
One night, she held Dad’s phone while he slept on the couch.
Dad whispered, “Jesus.”
Then another clip.
Patricia Wynn—Karen’s sister—sat at Dad’s desk with documents.
Karen said, “Once he signs the trust, Daniel can scream all he wants.”
Patricia replied, “You need him calm.”
“I know.”
“What about the granddaughter?”
Karen’s voice dropped.
I felt cold.
This was not random cruelty.
Lily had been targeted because Karen wanted distance between me and Dad.
Dad’s eyes filled.
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“I told Lily Karen loved her.”
“Yes.”
He covered his face.
“I helped this happen.”
Megan sat beside him.
“You didn’t make Karen do it.”
“No.”
Dad looked at me.
That mattered.
Susan kept scrolling.
Then she stopped.
Karen stood in the garage with the delivery man.
He handed her a small bottle.
She asked, “How much?”
He said, “Enough to keep Richard sleeping.”
Dad went white.
Susan turned to him.
“Have you had unexplained dizziness recently?”
May you like
He stared.
“For months.”
