Chapter 10 - The Second Camera
A technician named DeShawn met Daniel at the house with a written report and an uncomfortable expression.
"Mr. Price, your nursery camera wasn't the only device on that network."
He showed Daniel a diagram. Owen had installed a small recording hub behind the hallway cabinet during his so-called free upgrade. It collected motion alerts from the hall camera and retained short clips locally.
"Why would he do that?"
"I can't tell you why. But the device has an account that isn't yours."
DeShawn did not touch the hub further. He photographed its serial number and explained how he would preserve the logs for the investigator. Ortiz arrived to arrange a documented collection.
The hallway footage didn't show the inside of the nursery. It did show Vanessa carrying the iron in at 2:12 p.m., glancing behind her, and emerging without it after the police were called.
More importantly, the recordings showed a pattern. On three earlier afternoons, Vanessa entered the nursery and the standard baby feed went offline shortly afterward. On two of those days, she emerged carrying a phone. The clips didn't prove what she did inside, but they proved the outages were not random.
Then DeShawn discovered an exported file in the hub's account log. It had been sent to an external address the night before the incident.
"Can you see what it was?" Daniel asked.
"Not without the proper account access. But I can show when and where it went."
Ortiz read the destination aloud: [email protected].
Owen's company.
May you like
Daniel looked through the open nursery door. Noah was on a play mat, reaching for Ruth's hand. The baby had no idea that adults were fighting over a record of his fear.
Ortiz's phone rang. She listened, then said quietly, "We've found Owen. He says he'll speak to us, but only if Vanessa doesn't hear about it first."
