Chapter 6 - THE MISSING CAMERAS
Ethan left Hannah at the hospital only after Dr. Patel confirmed she was stable and David promised to remain nearby.
He hated leaving her.
Hannah insisted.
"If they are destroying evidence, go."
"I don't want you alone."
"I'm not alone."
She nodded toward David.
"And I don't want them deleting whatever happened in that house."
Ethan kissed her forehead.
"I will be back."
"Don't fight them."
"I won't."
"I mean it."
"I know."
She caught his hand before he turned away.
"Record everything."
He looked at her.
There was no fear in her voice now.
Only resolve.
"I will."
At 9:06 a.m., Ethan pulled into his driveway.
A white van was parked beside the garage.
Crestline Residential Renovations.
Trevor's company.
Ethan took a picture before getting out.
The front door was open.
Inside, two men he did not recognize were carrying boxes down the stairs.
"Stop."
Both men froze.
"Who are you?"
The taller one looked toward the living room.
"We were told to help move some things."
"Whose things?"
"Mrs. Cole's."
"Which Mrs. Cole?"
The man glanced at the box in his hands.
Hannah's name was written across the top in black marker.
Ethan took the box from him.
"Put everything down and leave."
"Sir, we were hired."
"By whom?"
Trevor appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Me."
Ethan started recording on his phone.
"Why are your employees moving my wife's belongings?"
Trevor folded his arms.
"Because Aunt Lorraine asked me to."
"And why are you wiping my cameras?"
Trevor's expression changed.
Only for a second.
"What cameras?"
"The ones Madison told me about."
Trevor laughed.
"Madison is dramatic."
"Get out of my house."
"You need to calm down."
"You received eighty-five thousand dollars from a loan opened in Hannah's name."
The two workers looked at Trevor.
His face went blank.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Northbridge Capital."
Trevor swallowed.
"That's between the lender and the client."
"Who was the client?"
"I don't discuss customer accounts."
"My wife is supposedly the customer."
"Then ask her."
"She never hired you."
Trevor stepped down one stair.
"That's not what the paperwork says."
Ethan held up his phone.
"Say that again."
Trevor noticed the recording icon.
His confidence disappeared.
"Turn that off."
"No."
Lorraine entered from the hallway wearing a tailored navy coat.
Her hair was perfectly arranged.
She looked as though she was leaving for lunch rather than packing a pregnant woman's belongings after a night in the hospital.
"Ethan, enough."
"Where are the cameras?"
"What cameras?"
"Trevor was told to wipe them."
"I have no idea what Madison told you."
"Then you won't mind if I check the security system."
He walked toward the office.
Trevor moved to block him.
Ethan stopped.
"Move."
"You don't understand what's going on."
"Then explain it."
"Not like this."
"Move."
Trevor looked at Lorraine.
That was enough.
Ethan stepped around him and entered the office.
The security cabinet beside the bookshelves was open.
The network recorder was gone.
Two cables hung from the shelf where it had been.
Ethan stared at the empty space.
"Where is it?"
No one answered.
He turned.
"Where is the recorder?"
Lorraine remained in the doorway.
"The cameras were making Hannah uncomfortable."
"So you removed the recorder?"
"We were going to replace the system."
"When?"
"Soon."
"At nine in the morning after I discovered a forged document?"
"Coincidence."
Ethan laughed softly.
"You're not even trying anymore."
He walked past her and checked the kitchen camera.
The small black device above the pantry door had been removed.
So had the camera covering the back hallway.
The exterior camera over the garage was still there.
He opened the security app on his phone.
Offline.
All interior feeds unavailable.
He looked at Trevor.
"Where is the recorder?"
Trevor said nothing.
Ethan called the police.
Lorraine's calm finally cracked.
"Do not do this."
"I'm reporting suspected identity theft, forged property documents, missing medical records, and destruction of security footage."
"You are destroying this family."
"No."
Ethan looked directly at her.
"I'm finally looking at what this family has been doing."
Police arrived twenty-two minutes later.
Lorraine immediately became soft-spoken and wounded.
She told Officer Ramirez that Ethan was under tremendous work stress.
She said Hannah had been emotional throughout her pregnancy.
She said the occupancy paperwork was a misunderstanding between relatives.
She said the security recorder had been removed because it was malfunctioning.
Trevor repeated the same explanation almost word for word.
Ethan listened without interrupting.
Then Officer Ramirez asked a simple question.
"Where is the recorder now?"
Lorraine looked at Trevor.
Trevor looked at the floor.
"I put it in my van."
"Why?"
"To take it for service."
"Where?"
"My shop."
"Do you repair security equipment?"
"Not usually."
Officer Ramirez held out his hand.
"Bring it to me."
Trevor hesitated.
"Do I have to?"
"You don't have to consent to anything."
The officer's tone remained neutral.
"But I am documenting that the owner of the home says the recorder was removed without his permission during a dispute involving alleged fraud."
Trevor looked at Lorraine again.
She gave him the smallest shake of her head.
Ethan saw it.
So did Officer Ramirez.
"I'll get it," Trevor muttered.
He returned two minutes later carrying the black recorder.
A screwdriver mark ran along the side panel.
Officer Ramirez photographed it.
"Did you open this?"
"No."
Ethan pointed at the scratched screws.
"Those weren't like that yesterday."
Trevor's jaw tightened.
Officer Ramirez placed the device into an evidence bag after Ethan signed a consent form allowing investigators to examine it.
Lorraine looked at him as if he had betrayed her.
"Your father would be ashamed."
Ethan felt the words land.
For years, that sentence would have stopped him.
Not today.
"My father is not here."
"No."
Lorraine's voice became almost gentle.
"But the debt he left is."
Officer Ramirez looked between them.
"What debt?"
Lorraine realized too late that she had spoken in front of a witness.
Ethan stepped closer.
"You mentioned Dad's debt last night."
She picked up her purse.
"I am done discussing private family finances."
"You brought them into my house."
"Not everything belongs to you simply because you paid for walls."
She walked toward the front door.
Officer Ramirez stopped her.
"Ma'am, before you leave, I need your contact information."
Lorraine gave it without argument.
Then she looked at Ethan.
"You should call the bank where your father kept the Carlisle account."
"What Carlisle account?"
Her smile returned.
"Exactly."
She walked outside.
Ethan stood in the foyer with the police officer, Trevor, and two confused workers.
His phone vibrated.
A message from David appeared.
DO NOT LET LORRAINE ACCESS ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS ACCOUNTS.
A second message followed immediately.
I FOUND A SECOND SIGNATURE.
Then a third.
May you like
THIS ONE IS YOURS.
