Chapter 2 - The Missing FootageTravis stared upward.
The camera blinked.
Recording.
Adrienne recovered quickly.
“That camera doesn’t cover the stairs.”
Kelsey looked at her.
“How do you know?”
Adrienne’s lips tightened.
Travis frowned.
“I installed that system.”
Adrienne crossed her arms.
“I live here too.”
“No, you stay here.”
The distinction landed.
The mansion belonged to Travis and Kelsey.
Adrienne had moved in eight months earlier after what she called a “temporary financial setback.”
Temporary had become permanent.
Travis carried the security tablet into his office.
Kelsey followed with Milo.
Adrienne stayed close behind.
“Travis, before you watch anything—”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
“I don’t want this turned into something bigger than it was.”
Kelsey laughed bitterly.
“Our baby fell down a staircase while you watched.”
“I told you, I didn’t see him until—”
“Then why did you say ‘babies fall’?”
Adrienne said nothing.
Travis opened the security app.
Living room.
Kitchen.
Foyer.
Driveway.
Second-floor landing.
He selected the timestamp.
3:17 p.m.
Loading.
Then an error appeared.
FILE UNAVAILABLE.
Travis frowned.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Kelsey stared at Adrienne.
“You deleted it.”
Adrienne recoiled.
“That’s insane.”
Travis tried an earlier clip.
It worked.
A later clip.
Also worked.
Only fourteen minutes were missing.
3:11 to 3:25.
Exactly when Milo fell.
Kelsey’s hands went cold.
“Travis.”
He didn’t answer.
His face had changed.
Adrienne said:
“Maybe the system glitched.”
“Only during those fourteen minutes?” Kelsey asked.
“It happens.”
Travis looked at his sister.
“How would you know?”
Adrienne’s face tightened again.
“I’ve seen recordings fail.”
Travis slowly set the tablet down.
“Kelsey, take Milo to the pediatric ER.”
She stared.
“You’re not coming?”
“I’m coming.”
Then he looked at Adrienne.
“You’re staying here.”
Her eyes widened.
“Travis.”
“Do not touch the security system.”
“You think I deleted something?”
“I said don’t touch it.”
That was the first crack.
At the hospital, doctors examined Milo.
Bruising.
A mild bump on his forehead.
No fracture.
No signs of serious head injury.
They observed him for several hours and gave the parents instructions about what symptoms would require immediate return.
Kelsey held him the entire time.
Travis sat beside her.
For nearly an hour, neither spoke.
Finally he whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
Kelsey stared ahead.
“For what part?”
He looked at her.
“For shouting.”
“Not for believing her?”
“I didn’t say I believed her.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Kelsey—”
“You walked in and saw one second.”
“I saw you hit someone.”
“Yes.”
“And I reacted.”
“You reacted as her brother before you reacted as Milo’s father.”
That hurt him.
She saw it.
Good.
Travis looked at Milo sleeping against her chest.
“I should have asked.”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
Then:
“But you shouldn’t have hit Adrienne.”
Kelsey looked at him.
“I know.”
He seemed surprised.
“I lost control.”
She looked down at Milo.
“I’m not proud of that.”
Travis exhaled.
The admission took away the argument he had prepared.
Kelsey continued:
“But my mistake does not erase hers.”
“No.”
“And if that footage was deleted—”
“I’ll find out.”
The next morning, the security company sent a technician.
He examined the server remotely.
Then called Travis.
“The video wasn’t corrupted.”
Travis’s face tightened.
“What happened?”
“Someone logged in locally and manually deleted it.”
Kelsey looked toward the guest wing.
“Which account?”
The technician hesitated.
“Yours.”
Travis stared.
“My account?”
“Yes.”
“From what device?”
“A tablet registered as…”
He paused.
“Travis-Office-iPad.”
Kelsey went cold.
The office iPad had disappeared three months earlier.
Adrienne claimed Milo had probably knocked it into a moving box.
But Milo had not been walking then.
Travis slowly turned toward his sister’s bedroom.
And for the first time—
May you like
he remembered who had been the last person seen using it.
Adrienne.
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