Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Security Photograph
Nicholas stared at the photograph until Walter finally spoke.
"Say something."
Nicholas did not.
The woman in the image could not be identified by her face.
Her hair was hidden beneath a hood.
Her body was turned toward the cabinet.
But the bracelet was unmistakable.
Claire had worn it dozens of times.
It had belonged to her grandmother.
Nicholas had heard the story every Christmas.
He had even paid to have the clasp repaired two years earlier.
Hannah watched disbelief harden into something colder.
"Where did this come from?" Nicholas asked.
"The backup security archive," Walter said.
"Backup?"
"The primary hallway camera shows a thirty-eight-minute gap."
Nicholas looked up sharply.
"Deleted?"
"Not deleted."
Walter placed another sheet on the desk.
"Overwritten with a loop."
Hannah frowned.
"Meaning someone replaced those thirty-eight minutes with older footage?"
"That is what the security contractor believes."
"Who can do that?"
Walter's mouth tightened.
"A system administrator."
"Names," Nicholas said.
"Me, Dominic in security, and the external contractor."
"Claire?"
"No."
Hannah pointed to the photograph.
"Then either she had help or someone wants us to think she did."
Nicholas looked at her.
"You are defending her now?"
"I am defending the evidence from our assumptions."
Walter nodded once.
"She is right."
Nicholas pushed the photograph away.
"That makes two of you who enjoy saying that."
Hannah ignored him.
"Where did the backup image come from?"
"A doorbell-style maintenance camera across the hall."
"Who knew it existed?"
"Almost no one."
"Claire?"
Walter hesitated.
"Probably not."
Nicholas's eyes narrowed.
"Probably?"
"The system was installed while you were in rehabilitation."
"By whom?"
"Me."
The room shifted again.
Hannah turned to Walter.
"Why install a hidden backup camera outside his bedroom?"
Walter's expression went blank.
Nicholas looked at him too.
"Good question."
Walter took off his glasses.
For the first time since Hannah had met him, the older man looked tired.
"Because two nurses quit within six weeks."
"That is not an answer," Nicholas said.
"One of them said medication was disappearing."
Hannah's pulse jumped.
"Which nurse?"
Walter looked at Nicholas.
"Amanda Sloane."
Nicholas frowned.
"She told me she was moving to Arizona."
"That is what the agency told you."
"What did she tell you?"
Walter looked toward the door as if he wanted to be certain it was closed.
"She said someone was entering your room after midnight."
Nicholas's voice dropped.
"Why did you not tell me?"
"Because three days later she recanted everything."
"Why?"
"She would not say."
Hannah stepped closer.
"Where is she now?"
Walter's eyes moved to her.
"I do not know."
"You know everything about everyone who comes into this house."
"Not everything."
"You knew about my hospital complaint before I walked through the front door."
Walter said nothing.
Hannah's stomach tightened.
"You hired me because of it."
Nicholas looked between them.
"What is she talking about?"
Walter put his glasses back on.
"The agency gave me several names."
"And you chose the nurse known for reporting misconduct," Hannah said.
"Yes."
"Why?"
Walter's gaze did not move.
"Because I needed someone who would notice if something was wrong."
The words seemed to remove air from the room.
Nicholas's voice became dangerously quiet.
"You suspected something before Hannah arrived."
"I suspected your medical care was not matching what I was seeing."
"For how long?"
Walter looked at him.
"Since Rebecca died."
Nicholas slammed his palm against the arm of his chair.
"Get out."
Hannah flinched.
Walter did not.
"Nicholas."
"You thought someone might be hurting me and you said nothing?"
"I had no proof."
"So you brought four nurses into my house to test your theory?"
"I brought professionals into your house because you needed medical care."
"And you watched."
"Yes."
Nicholas's face burned with anger.
"Get out."
Walter collected the photograph.
Hannah stopped him.
"Leave that."
He did.
Then he looked at Nicholas one last time.
"You can hate me after you survive this."
He walked out.
Nicholas sat motionless.
Hannah waited.
Finally he spoke.
"Did you know?"
"No."
"Would you tell me if you did?"
"Yes."
He laughed once without humor.
"Everyone says that."
Hannah sat across from him.
"Then do not trust what I say."
He looked at her.
"Trust what I document."
The anger in his face eased by a fraction.
"You really are impossible."
"It is in my file."
That night, Hannah changed the lock on the medication cabinet herself.
Nicholas ordered a locksmith to install a mechanical lock rather than anything connected to the house network.
Only two keys existed.
Hannah kept one.
Nicholas kept the other.
Claire noticed before dinner.
She stood in the upstairs hallway with her hand on the new brass plate.
"What happened here?"
Hannah continued toward Nicholas's room.
"Security update."
Claire followed.
"Why was I not told?"
"It is a medication cabinet."
"In my home."
Hannah stopped.
"Is it?"
Claire's face changed.
The estate belonged entirely to Nicholas.
They both knew it.
"You know what I mean."
"I do."
Claire stepped closer.
"You are becoming a problem."
Hannah's pulse quickened, but she kept her voice level.
"Then fire me."
Claire smiled.
"You think I cannot?"
"I think Nicholas signs my contract."
"Nicholas signs whatever is placed in front of him when he is tired enough."
The sentence slipped out so naturally that Claire did not realize what she had revealed until it was too late.
Hannah stared at her.
Claire's expression froze.
Then she laughed.
"That sounded terrible."
"It did."
"I meant the attorneys exhaust him."
"Of course."
Claire's smile vanished.
"You should be careful, Hannah."
"About what?"
"About mistaking access for importance."
She walked away.
Hannah waited until Claire disappeared down the stairs.
Then she took out her phone and typed the sentence exactly as she remembered it.
Nicholas signs whatever is placed in front of him when he is tired enough.
She saved the note in two places.
At dinner, Claire performed devotion flawlessly.
Two guests from a charitable foundation had joined them.
She cut Nicholas's steak before he could ask.
She laughed at his driest remarks.
She touched his hand whenever the conversation turned personal.
Hannah stood near the wall with the medical bag and watched Nicholas watch Claire.
He was seeing the performance now.
That was new.
When dessert arrived, one of the guests smiled warmly.
"Nicholas, you are lucky."
Claire lowered her eyes modestly.
"Not everyone stays after something like this."
Nicholas looked at Claire.
The room became very quiet in Hannah's mind.
"No," Nicholas said.
"They do not."
Claire squeezed his hand.
Only Hannah noticed how hard.
After the guests left, Nicholas returned to the library.
Claire followed him.
Hannah was ten feet behind them when Claire closed the doors in her face.
Hannah stopped.
Through the thick wood she could hear nothing clearly.
Then a glass shattered.
She opened the door.
Claire was standing beside the fireplace.
Nicholas sat across from her.
Broken crystal glittered on the rug.
"Out," Claire said.
Hannah looked at Nicholas.
"Stay," he said.
Claire laughed in disbelief.
"You need your nurse for an argument now?"
"Apparently."
"This is humiliating."
Nicholas's face was calm.
"What did you put in my tea?"
Claire went completely still.
Hannah's heart pounded.
For several seconds Claire said nothing.
Then her mouth opened.
"What?"
"Last night."
"Chamomile and honey."
"Nothing else?"
"No."
"Did you enter my medication cabinet at three eleven in the morning?"
Claire's face drained.
The reaction lasted only a second.
Then rage replaced it.
"You are spying on me?"
"Answer the question."
"In the house where I have lived for five years?"
"Answer."
Claire looked at Hannah.
Understanding appeared in her eyes.
"This is her."
Nicholas's brow tightened.
"What?"
"She has been filling your head with this."
Hannah did not speak.
Claire pointed at her.
"She wants you frightened."
"Why?"
"Because frightened men become dependent."
Nicholas's face turned colder.
"You are avoiding the question."
Claire's eyes filled with tears so quickly Hannah almost admired the skill.
"I checked your medication because you forgot whether you had taken it."
Hannah's stomach dropped.
It was the first explanation that fit the photograph.
Nicholas leaned forward.
"At three in the morning?"
"You were awake."
"I was not."
"You spoke to me."
"What did I say?"
Claire hesitated.
"You asked for Rebecca."
Nicholas stopped breathing.
Hannah felt it too.
Claire wiped a tear from her cheek.
"You were crying for your sister."
Nicholas looked at Hannah.
Hannah had told no one that he had said Rebecca's name.
No one except Dr. Hale.
The room seemed to tilt.
Claire continued softly.
"I gave you tea because you were shaking."
Nicholas's voice was barely audible.
"How did you know I said Rebecca?"
Claire's tears stopped.
Hannah saw the exact instant she realized the mistake.
Then the library door opened behind them.
Dr. Marcus Hale walked in without knocking.
He looked at Claire.
He looked at Nicholas.
Then his eyes settled on Hannah.
May you like
"I think," he said, "we need to discuss whether Miss Reed is still appropriate for this household."
