Chapter 12 - THE CAMERA NATALIE TURNED OFF
The mansion contained twenty-two security cameras.
Twenty-one had recorded continuously.
The rear hallway camera stopped working six months earlier.
Natalie reported a wiring failure.
No repair request was ever filed.
The camera above the storage-room entrance had not failed.
It had been disabled manually through the smart-home system.
The administrator was Andrew.
Or appeared to be.
Login records showed his account accessing the system while he was on a flight to London.
Natalie knew his password.
She disabled the camera each time Margaret entered the room.
Then she reactivated it before Andrew returned.
Most recordings were deleted.
One remained in the cloud recycle folder.
It showed Natalie wheeling Margaret down the hallway.
Margaret resisted by pressing her feet against the floor.
Natalie bent close.
“The more difficult you become, the longer you stay inside.”
She opened the wooden door.
Margaret grabbed its frame.
Natalie pulled her hands away.
Then the camera went black.
Andrew watched the footage once.
He could not watch it again.
A second file appeared from the living room.
Natalie sat beside Margaret before a camera.
Her voice sounded gentle.
“Tell Andrew why you do not want him managing your affairs.”
Margaret’s pupils were unfocused.
She had been sedated.
“I’m afraid of Andrew,” she said weakly.
“Why?”
“He wants the house.”
Natalie smiled behind the camera.
“Do you want me to protect you?”
“Yes.”
The video ended.
It was the recording Natalie intended to present at the hearing.
Without context, it appeared to show Margaret choosing her.
Dr. Rowan examined the footage.
Margaret displayed classic signs of heavy sedation.
The court might still consider the words.
Andrew looked at his mother.
“Why did you say you were afraid of me?”
Natalie had spent hours repeating the sentence.
She withheld water.
She increased the pills.
She promised to open the door if Margaret said the required words.
“I knew you would not believe it,” Margaret whispered.
Andrew looked away.
She noticed.
“You would not have believed it?”
He answered honestly.
“I don’t know.”
That uncertainty wounded them both.
Selena opened the lamp’s audio archive.
She searched the date of Natalie’s video.
A recording existed.
It began two minutes before the camera.
Natalie’s real voice was not gentle.
May you like
If you want to leave this room, you will say exactly what I tell you.
The lamp had captured the context Natalie tried to remove.
