Chapter 2 - The Camera in the Hallway
Arthur called the police before Victoria could leave.
She laughed when he said it.
“You’re calling the police because a child tripped?”
Arthur pointed upstairs.
“My daughter said you pushed her.”
“She’s seven.”
“She’s also my daughter.”
Victoria looked at Elena.
“And you’re trusting the nanny?”
Elena’s face hardened.
“I caught her.”
“You grabbed her after she slipped.”
Officer Marcus Reed arrived with a second officer and an EMT.
Elena refused to leave until Lily had been checked.
The EMT found bruising and a shoulder strain, but no serious injury.
Arthur watched Elena wince while Lily refused to let go of her hand.
That image would stay with him.
Reed examined the camera.
“Who installed this?”
Arthur shook his head.
“I didn’t.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“Maybe Elena did.”
Elena stared at her.
“I didn’t know it existed.”
The device fed into a hidden wireless receiver inside a cabinet near Arthur’s office.
Then police found another camera.
Outside Lily’s bedroom.
Arthur stopped breathing normally.
All separate from his security system.
Reed looked at Victoria.
“You said you didn’t know about them?”
“I don’t.”
The officer checked the network logs.
The administrator account was registered to:
VICTORIA HAYES.
Victoria looked at the screen and said:
“That proves nothing.”
“It proves someone used your email.”
“My email gets hacked.”
Reed bagged the receiver.
“There’s another one.”
She pointed toward Arthur’s study.
“How do you know?” Victoria snapped.
Elena answered:
“Because Lily told me not to talk near Daddy’s office.”
Arthur looked down at his daughter.
Lily’s face changed.
“Why?”
She whispered:
“Because Aunt Vicky can hear.”
Reed opened the vent opposite the study desk.
Inside was a fifth camera.
This one pointed directly at Arthur’s chair.
Arthur.
And suddenly he understood.
May you like
Someone had not only been watching his daughter.
They had been watching him too.
