Chapter 7 - Someone Had Been Watching ThemDaniel called the police before Sophie finished explaining.
This time, Claire didn't question whether they were overreacting.
A detective named Natalie Ross arrived at the house shortly after nine.
She listened while Sophie described what she'd seen.
Margaret had once opened a folder of videos on a tablet.
Sophie recognized Claire in several clips.
Some appeared to be recorded inside Claire's current home.
The kitchen.
Living room.
Upstairs hallway.
“Did you see yourself?” Detective Ross asked.
Sophie nodded.
Claire went pale.
Daniel gripped the edge of his chair.
“What was I doing?” Claire asked.
“You were making breakfast.”
“When?”
“I don't know.”
“Was Dad living here?”
Sophie thought.
“No.”
Claire stood abruptly.
Daniel knew exactly what she was thinking.
If the recordings were recent, someone had been inside the home after he moved out.
Ross raised a hand.
“Don't start searching randomly. We'll do this carefully.”
Within an hour, officers found the first device.
A miniature camera hidden inside a smoke detector in the living room.
The second was in the kitchen.
The third was upstairs near the landing.
Claire sat on the sofa staring at nothing.
Daniel felt fury unlike anything he'd experienced that afternoon.
Not explosive fury.
Something colder.
Every room suddenly seemed contaminated.
Every private conversation.
Every argument.
Every moment Sophie had cried after the separation.
Margaret might have watched.
“Can we prove she installed them?” Daniel asked.
Ross didn't answer immediately.
“We'll examine the devices.”
“She had videos.”
“If Sophie accurately remembers what she saw, that matters.”
“She does.”
Ross gave him a measured look.
“Your daughter has been through a lot today. We take what she says seriously, but we verify everything.”
Daniel nodded.
He understood.
He also hated the necessary uncertainty.
Claire walked into the kitchen.
Daniel followed.
“Are you okay?”
She laughed once.
“No.”
“Stupid question.”
“Yes.”
Daniel leaned against the counter.
“I didn't know.”
Claire turned.
“Please stop saying that.”
He stared.
“I know you didn't know.”
“I should have.”
“Yes.”
Daniel swallowed.
She wasn't going to make this easier for him.
Strangely, he was grateful.
Claire looked toward the living room where Sophie sat with Detective Ross.
“Do you know what the worst part is?”
“What?”
“I spent two years wondering whether I was losing my mind.”
Daniel's chest tightened.
“Margaret would tell me something when we were alone. Later she'd swear she never said it. Then you'd tell me she was sick.”
Claire wiped her eyes.
“Eventually I started writing conversations down.”
Daniel frowned.
“You did?”
Claire opened a kitchen drawer.
Underneath a stack of dish towels was a black notebook.
She placed it on the counter.
Daniel opened it.
Dates.
Times.
Quotes.
Margaret said Daniel regrets marrying me.
Margaret says Sophie would be happier living with Daniel full time.
Margaret claims she forgot telling Daniel I was drinking.
Margaret threatened to expose something about my family but refused to say what.
Page after page.
Daniel felt physically ill.
“When did you start this?”
“Two and a half years ago.”
“Why didn't you show me?”
“I did.”
His head snapped up.
Claire gave him a sad look.
“You called it obsessive.”
Memory returned.
Claire once held up a notebook during an argument.
Daniel had refused to read it.
He had told her documenting every offensive comment was unhealthy.
His own words came back.
You're building a case against my mother instead of trying to understand she's sick.
Daniel closed the notebook.
“I was an idiot.”
“You were manipulated.”
“I was still responsible.”
Claire looked at him for a long moment.
“That is the first useful thing you've said about this.”
Before Daniel could respond, Detective Ross entered.
“We found something else.”
She held a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a small electronic device.
“Another camera?”
“No.”
Ross placed the bag on the table.
“A signal hub. It appears the cameras transmitted wirelessly rather than storing everything locally.”
“Where did you find it?”
“Behind your internet router.”
Claire stared.
Ross continued.
“It may contain connection history. If we're lucky, we can determine what account accessed the feed.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“And if it was my mother?”
“Then the investigation changes significantly.”
Ross received a call and stepped into the hall.
Daniel looked down at Claire's notebook.
A question had been growing inside him.
“Why was Mom so desperate to keep us apart?”
Claire folded her arms.
“I've asked myself that hundreds of times.”
“She always disliked you.”
“Dislike doesn't explain this.”
“No.”
“Control does.”
Daniel looked toward Sophie.
“But why me?”
Claire hesitated.
“There is something I never told you.”
Daniel almost laughed.
Another secret.
Of course.
“What?”
“The week before I left, Margaret came here.”
He frowned.
“You told me she hadn't been inside since our separation.”
“This was before.”
“What happened?”
“She said if I filed for divorce, I should take whatever money you offered and disappear.”
Daniel stared.
“She told you to leave me?”
“Yes.”
“That makes no sense. She accused you of destroying our marriage.”
“I know.”
“What exactly did she say?”
Claire's face tightened.
“She said, ‘Daniel was never supposed to build a life that didn't revolve around this family.’”
Daniel felt cold.
“What family?”
“I assumed she meant her.”
His phone buzzed.
A message from Detective Ross, though she stood only twenty feet away.
She had sent him a photograph.
Daniel opened it.
“What is that?” Claire asked.
The image showed a page recovered from Margaret's locked cabinet.
It was a copy of Daniel's father's will.
Robert Mercer had died eight years earlier.
Daniel had read the will at the time.
Or believed he had.
This version contained a handwritten amendment he'd never seen.
Daniel enlarged the image.
Claire read over his shoulder.
Upon Margaret Mercer's death, controlling interest in Mercer Holdings shall transfer to Daniel Mercer provided—
Daniel stopped.
Claire whispered, “Provided what?”
He scrolled.
Then both of them went silent.
The clause continued:
—provided Daniel remains outside any marital union deemed financially adverse to the family trust.
Claire looked at him.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Daniel stared at the document.
“I don't know.”
Then he saw the signature at the bottom.
His father's.
May you like
And beneath it, in Margaret's handwriting, three words:
CLAIRE CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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