Chapter 2 - The Camera Had Been Recording for MonthsEthan did not question Sophie immediately.
Every instinct told him to demand answers.
How long?
How often?
What had Vanessa done?
But Sophie was four.
She was frightened.
And Ethan could see something far more disturbing than dirt in her hair.
She was deciding whether telling him was safe.
That realization made him feel sick.
“You can tell me anything,” Ethan said.
Sophie looked down.
“Even if Grandma says not to?”
“Especially then.”
“She said grown-up problems make daddies leave.”
“I’m not leaving because you tell me the truth.”
“Promise?”
Ethan crouched until they were eye level.
“I promise I will always want you to tell me when someone scares you.”
She considered that.
Then nodded.
Ethan cleaned the last grime from her forehead and wrapped a towel around her shoulders.
He opened the bathroom door.
The hallway was empty.
Vanessa was gone.
His pulse jumped.
“Stay with me.”
He carried Sophie toward the security room near his home office.
Halfway there, he heard quick footsteps.
Vanessa appeared from the opposite corridor.
Something small and black was in her hand.
The external security drive.
Ethan stopped.
Vanessa stopped.
Neither spoke.
The frightened elderly-woman performance was gone.
“What are you doing with that?” Ethan asked.
Vanessa held it tightly.
“I thought you might regret watching something while you’re angry.”
“Give it to me.”
“You saw only part of what happened.”
“Then the footage will help.”
“You don’t understand children, Ethan.”
He almost laughed.
“I’m her father.”
“You’re gone constantly.”
There it was.
A calculated strike.
Vanessa knew where guilt lived.
Ethan traveled for work. Too often, perhaps. Sophie stayed with a nanny during the day, but Vanessa insisted on being involved whenever he left overnight.
She had called it helping.
Rachel had been gone for two years, and Ethan had believed Sophie needed more family around her.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“I have practically raised that girl whenever you disappear.”
Sophie hid behind Ethan’s leg.
Vanessa noticed.
Her expression tightened.
“See? You’re making her afraid of me.”
Ethan looked down.
Sophie was already afraid.
That was the point.
“Give me the drive.”
Vanessa lowered her voice.
“If you humiliate me because of one bad moment, you will regret it.”
“That sounds less like memory loss.”
She realized her mistake.
Too late.
Her face softened again.
“I’m frightened.”
“I know.”
“I may be sick.”
“Then we’ll get you evaluated.”
Vanessa exhaled.
“Thank you.”
“After I watch the recording.”
Her hand tightened around the drive.
Ethan held out his palm.
Seconds passed.
Finally, Vanessa placed it there.
“There are things you’ll misunderstand.”
“Then explain them after.”
He entered the security room and locked the door.
Vanessa remained outside.
Sophie climbed onto the chair beside him.
Ethan opened the home-security dashboard.
He pulled up the camera overlooking the utility area.
2:37 p.m.
The screen showed the aftermath.
Trash bin open.
His travel bag on the floor.
He dragged backward.
2:36.
Vanessa appeared.
Sophie was already crying.
He dragged farther.
2:33.
Sophie sat at the kitchen island with a plastic cup of chocolate milk.
Vanessa stood nearby.
At first, nothing seemed wrong.
Then Sophie accidentally knocked over the cup.
Chocolate milk spilled across the counter.
Sophie gasped.
“Sorry, Grandma.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“You’re always sorry after you make a mess.”
“I can clean it.”
“You’re exactly like your mother.”
Ethan stopped the video.
His stomach tightened.
Rachel.
Sophie’s mother had died from ovarian cancer two years earlier.
Vanessa had never liked her.
Ethan knew that.
But he had assumed Vanessa possessed enough decency not to speak badly about a dead mother in front of her child.
He resumed.
Sophie wiped up the milk.
A dirty paper towel fell near the trash.
Vanessa grabbed her wrist.
“Pick it up.”
Sophie did.
Then Vanessa said something almost too low for the microphone.
Ethan increased the volume.
“Maybe if you spent less time pretending to be a princess like your mother, you’d learn how normal people behave.”
Sophie began crying.
“My mommy was nice.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Your mommy was weak.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
Beside him, Sophie whispered, “She says that a lot.”
Ethan turned.
“What?”
“When you go away.”
He felt his stomach drop.
“How many times?”
Sophie shrugged.
Children didn’t count cruelty.
They endured it.
Ethan turned back to the footage.
Vanessa forced Sophie toward the trash bin.
The child resisted.
Vanessa became angrier.
“If you tell your father, I’ll tell him you were bad all weekend.”
“No!”
“He’s tired of problems, Sophie.”
“No, he’s not!”
“He already lost your mother. Do you want him to get tired of you too?”
Ethan’s vision blurred.
He stopped the recording.
Sophie stared at the floor.
“That’s why I didn’t tell.”
He turned toward her.
“Sweetheart…”
She started crying.
“I don’t want you to get tired of me.”
Ethan lifted her into his arms.
“Never.”
Behind the locked door, Vanessa knocked.
“Ethan.”
He ignored her.
His computer suddenly displayed a notification.
ARCHIVED EVENTS FOUND.
The system had detected manually deleted footage.
Ethan frowned.
He opened the activity log.
Eleven clips had been deleted over the previous six weeks.
Every deletion occurred while Ethan was traveling.
Every one had been removed using Vanessa’s authorized security code.
His blood went cold.
He clicked RECOVER.
Vanessa knocked again.
Harder.
“Ethan, open this door.”
The first deleted video appeared.
August 3.
8:17 p.m.
Sophie stood alone on the rear patio.
It was dark.
She was crying.
The glass door behind her was locked.
Vanessa stood safely inside the house.
Watching.
Ethan could hear Sophie through the exterior microphone.
“Grandma, please let me in.”
Vanessa lifted a glass of wine.
“When you stop crying.”
“Please!”
“When you learn to control yourself.”
Sophie sobbed harder.
“Daddy!”
Vanessa smiled.
“Daddy isn’t coming.”
Ethan’s hand went numb on the mouse.
Beside him, Sophie whispered:
“That was the night it was cold.”
Ethan stared at the footage.
Then something happened in the reflection of the glass door.
For a moment, Vanessa appeared to be talking to someone inside the kitchen.
A man.
Ethan leaned closer.
He couldn’t see the face.
But he heard Vanessa say one clear sentence.
“If Rachel hadn’t started digging, none of this would be necessary.”
Ethan froze.
May you like
Rachel had been dead for two years.
Why was Vanessa still afraid of something his wife had discovered?
Related Stories
