Chapter 1 - The AccusationSerena Caldwell knew exactly how she wanted the room to look when Brooks found her.
The torn dress had to seem accidental.
The hair had to look pulled, not styled.
The tears had to come before anyone asked a question.
So she stood inside the upstairs sitting room of the Caldwell estate, gripped the side seam of her pale-blue dress, and ripped it.
Then she dragged both hands through her blonde hair.
She looked toward the doorway.
Waited.
And screamed.
“HELP ME!”
Footsteps exploded through the hallway.
Brooks arrived first.
His younger sister, Vivian, followed.
Then his mother, Eleanor.
Two guests came behind them.
Serena stumbled toward her husband.
“Brooks!”
He caught her.
“What happened?”
She buried her face against his chest.
Then pointed.
Straight at Edwin Mercer.
The sixty-three-year-old household manager stood near the bookcase.
He had worked for the Caldwell family for thirty-one years.
Longer than Brooks had been alive.
Serena cried,
“He touched me!”
The room froze.
Brooks looked at Edwin.
Edwin did not move.
Serena clutched her husband's shirt.
“I told him to stop.”
Brooks's face changed.
“You what?”
“He grabbed me.”
That was enough.
Brooks crossed the room.
“Sir—”
Edwin barely finished the word before Brooks shoved him against the wall.
Vivian shouted,
“Brooks!”
But Brooks grabbed Edwin by the collar.
“You put your hands on my wife?”
Edwin did not strike back.
He did not even raise his voice.
Instead, he looked directly at Brooks.
“Before you do something you will regret…”
Brooks tightened his grip.
Edwin continued,
“…look at the hallway camera.”
Serena stopped crying.
Only for half a second.
Edwin noticed.
Then he nodded toward the black security camera mounted above the door.
“It recorded the moment Mrs. Caldwell entered this room.”
Serena blurted,
“THAT CAMERA IS BROKEN!”
Silence.
Brooks's hands loosened.
Edwin slowly turned his head toward Serena.
“I never told you that.”
Serena went pale.
Vivian looked from the camera to Serena.
Eleanor's expression sharpened.
Brooks released Edwin.
He turned toward his wife.
“Serena…”
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came.
Brooks pointed toward the camera.
“How do you know it's broken?”
“I…”
Serena's eyes moved quickly.
“It hasn't had a light.”
Edwin answered,
“The indicator light was disabled months ago.”
Serena stared at him.
“For privacy.”
Brooks looked back at Serena.
“You knew that?”
“No.”
“Then how did you know it was broken?”
“I assumed.”
Edwin straightened his jacket.
“No.”
Serena looked at him.
He spoke quietly.
“You were certain.”
Her face hardened for an instant.
Then tears returned.
“Brooks, are you seriously questioning me after what he did?”
That almost worked.
Brooks looked at her torn dress.
Her shaking hands.
Then at Edwin.
The man had been in the Caldwell home since Brooks was five.
He had attended his father's funeral.
Drove Brooks to college.
Sat beside him at the hospital when Eleanor had heart surgery.
Edwin was not family by blood.
But he was closer than most relatives.
Brooks swallowed.
“I want the footage.”
Serena's breathing changed.
Edwin nodded.
“So do I.”
They went downstairs to the security room.
Edwin entered the access code.
Nothing.
The hallway camera showed OFFLINE.
Serena exhaled.
Too early.
Vivian saw it.
“Why do you look relieved?”
Serena turned sharply.
“I don't.”
The security technician on staff, Marcus Bell, arrived ten minutes later.
He opened the system logs.
“That camera has been offline since 6:42 tonight.”
Brooks looked at the clock.
Serena had screamed at 7:06.
Twenty-four minutes.
“Why?” Brooks asked.
Marcus frowned.
“Manual disconnect.”
Edwin looked at him.
“From where?”
“Local panel.”
The panel sat inside the security room.
Only staff were supposed to have access.
Serena's face remained still.
Brooks asked,
“Who entered this room?”
Marcus pulled the electronic door log.
6:38 p.m.
Edwin Mercer.
Everyone looked at him.
Brooks's expression changed again.
Edwin stared at the screen.
“That wasn't me.”
Serena whispered,
“Of course you'd say that.”
Edwin ignored her.
“I was in the wine cellar with Mr. Thomas.”
Thomas Reed, the family chef, confirmed it.
Brooks looked at Marcus.
“Someone used Edwin's code.”
“Yes.”
“Who knows it?”
Edwin answered,
“No one.”
Then he stopped.
Because that wasn't completely true.
Two weeks earlier, Serena had stood beside him while he entered the code during a false alarm.
She had laughed.
“Don't worry, Edwin. I wasn't looking.”
At the time, he believed her.
Now he remembered exactly where her eyes had been.
Brooks saw his expression.
“What?”
Edwin turned toward Serena.
She looked away.
Marcus typed again.
“The camera may still have local storage.”
Serena's head snapped toward him.
“What?”
Marcus looked up.
“Each unit has a memory buffer. Even when disconnected from the network.”
Brooks stared at the dead camera feed.
“How long?”
“About thirty minutes.”
Serena took one step backward.
Marcus continued,
“If no one physically removed the card, the footage should still be inside the camera.”
Edwin looked at Serena.
Her face had gone white.
Brooks saw it too.
May you like
And suddenly the question wasn't whether Edwin had touched Serena.
It was why Serena looked terrified that the camera might have recorded anything at all.
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