Chapter 2 - The Missing Footage
The pool camera had been offline for forty-two minutes.
That was the first thing Arthur learned.
The second was worse.
It had not malfunctioned.
Someone had disabled it manually.
The security panel showed a user code.
VIC-02.
Victoria’s code.
She stood in the living room with a blanket around her shoulders while paramedics checked Lily.
Arthur held the security tablet.
“Why did you disable the camera?”
“I didn’t.”
“Your code did.”
“Someone used it.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Rosa stood near the kitchen.
Her hands were shaking.
Arthur noticed.
Again.
“Rosa.”
Victoria snapped:
“She’s not part of this family.”
Arthur looked at her.
“Neither are you if you keep answering for everyone.”
Silence.
Victoria’s jaw tightened.
Arthur had never spoken to her like that.
Not once.
For six months, he had believed Victoria brought calm into his life.
She handled charity events.
School schedules.
Household staff.
Board dinners.
She made chaos disappear.
Now he wondered what else disappeared with it.
The paramedic said Lily should go to the hospital for observation.
Arthur carried her to the ambulance.
Victoria followed.
Lily began crying.
“No.”
Arthur stopped.
“What?”
“No Victoria.”
The words were small.
Clear.
Arthur looked at his wife.
Victoria looked wounded.
“Arthur…”
He climbed into the ambulance without her.
At Cedars-Sinai, Lily slept.
Arthur sat beside the bed.
Rosa arrived two hours later.
Without Victoria.
“Sir.”
Arthur stood.
“What do you know?”
Rosa’s eyes filled.
“I should have told you.”
His stomach tightened.
“How long?”
“Three months.”
“About what?”
“Mrs. Bennett gets angry with Lily.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“Angry how?”
“She calls her spoiled.”
“She says Miss Lily cries for attention.”
“That sounds unpleasant, not criminal.”
Rosa nodded.
Then:
“She locks her room.”
Arthur stared.
“What?”
“From outside.”
His blood went cold.
Rosa continued.
“Sometimes ten minutes. Sometimes longer.”
“Why?”
“She says Lily needs to learn.”
Arthur felt sick.
“Did you see this?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Rosa looked down.
“She said you would fire me.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“I know that now.”
Then Rosa whispered:
“She said you believed her more.”
That hurt because it was true.
Arthur had trusted Victoria.
Blindly.
Then Rosa handed him a phone.
Old.
Cracked.
“I recorded things.”
Arthur stared.
“For safety.”
The first video showed Victoria outside Lily’s bedroom.
Lily crying inside.
“Please let me out.”
Victoria answered:
“You stop when I say you stop.”
Arthur’s hand tightened around the phone.
The next clip showed Victoria taking Lily’s stuffed rabbit.
Another showed her throwing away a drawing of Claire.
Then one audio file.
Victoria:
“Your mother is dead. You need to stop talking about her like she’s coming back.”
Lily:
“Daddy says Mommy watches me.”
Victoria:
“Daddy says things because he feels guilty.”
Arthur stopped the recording.
Rosa was crying.
Then she said:
“There’s more.”
She opened a hidden folder.
A photograph of Victoria in Arthur’s study.
Holding Claire’s old estate binder.
Date:
Two weeks before the pool incident.
Arthur looked up.
“What was she doing with that?”
Rosa whispered:
“She said she was fixing your will.”
Arthur’s chest tightened.
“My will?”
“No, sir.”
May you like
Rosa looked at Lily.
“Miss Lily’s trust.”
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