Chapter 5 - THE CAMERA
The pool camera became the strongest evidence against Ethan, but it also revealed something unexpected. A second person had been standing near the side gate before Ethan pushed Victor.
Detective Ortiz froze the footage.
A man in a dark cap.
Expensive shoes.
He was watching the house.
Daniel Brooks, the runner who saved Victor, identified him immediately.
“I saw him earlier that morning,” Daniel said. “He looked like he was waiting for someone.”
“Did he see Ethan?” Ortiz asked.
“Yes.”
“Did he run?”
“No. He walked away.”
Victor recognized the man's face when Ortiz showed him the image.
One finger.
Yes.
“Who is he?” Ortiz asked.
Victor pointed toward an old family photograph.
Michael Cross.
Claire's former attorney.
Ethan stared at the image.
“Why would my mother's attorney be watching Dad's house?”
Marcus did not answer.
At the hospital, Victor's communication device displayed another message.
MICHAEL KNOWS.
Maya asked what he knew.
Victor spelled:
CLAIRE.
Ethan felt the old grief return.
His mother had been declared dead after a plane crash. Her body had never been recovered.
The family had told Ethan that some mysteries were kinder than answers.
Now he understood the lie.
The crash had been the cover story.
Ortiz traced Michael Cross through old records and found a company address in Oregon. The company had no employees, but its bank account had received payments from Northstar Holdings.
The trail was real.
So was the danger.
That night, Ethan went through his childhood photographs. He found one picture from when he was ten. He was standing beside Victor at the lake.
In the background was a man who looked exactly like Daniel Mercer.
Ethan had never noticed him.
Under the photograph, Victor had written a date.
The summer before Daniel's supposed death.
Ethan remembered that summer vaguely. He had disappeared for three days after a family argument.
He remembered a red car.
A cabin.
A man who told him not to tell his father where they had gone.
Ethan realized the man had been Daniel.
His uncle had been alive his entire childhood.
And someone had been shaping Ethan's anger long before the pool.
May you like
Daniel Brooks kept replaying the morning in his mind. He almost ignored the splash because he had headphones on. He almost kept running because the house looked expensive and he assumed someone else would handle an accident. A minute of hesitation might have changed the outcome completely. He had never met Victor before, yet the old man's terrified eyes stayed with him. When Detective Ortiz asked why he had risked his life, Daniel shrugged. “Because someone needed to.” Ethan heard the answer from the hallway and looked away. The two men were strangers, but the difference between them was already clear. Daniel had seen a person in danger and moved toward him. Ethan had seen his father as an obstacle and pushed him away.
The camera footage became public only after investigators secured it. The local news called Ethan a devoted son caught in a tragic accident. Ortiz refused to release the full recording. She wanted the case built properly. Daniel Brooks kept his distance from reporters. He had no interest in being called a hero. He simply repeated the same sentence whenever anyone asked why he jumped: “There was a man in the water.”
