Chapter 11 - ELEVEN SECONDS
Samuel Pike lasted six hours before asking for a lawyer.
By the next morning, he wanted a deal.
Detective Ruiz called Harrison to the district attorney's office.
Pike looked smaller than Harrison expected.
Forty-six.
Thinning hair.
Shaking hands.
A man who had accepted money without believing he would ever understand what it purchased.
Pike admitted he had been paid to create remote access to courthouse cameras.
"Who paid you?"
Ruiz asked.
Pike stared at the table.
"A guy named Marcus Vale."
Harrison frowned.
He knew the name.
Marcus Vale was chief operating officer of Harrington Commercial Group.
Richard's closest executive.
"What were you told to do?"
"Nothing unless I got a message."
"What message?"
"Erase camera twelve."
"When?"
"Friday."
"After Khloe fell?"
Pike swallowed.
"Yes."
Harrison leaned forward.
"Did you know she was going to be pushed?"
"No."
"Did you know something was supposed to happen?"
Pike's face collapsed.
"I swear I didn't."
Ruiz placed the burner phone on the table.
"Who sent the instruction?"
Pike shook his head.
"It came from another burner."
Harrison stared at him.
"Eleven seconds disappeared."
Pike nodded.
"That's all I erased."
"Can it be recovered?"
"No."
Harrison sat back.
Then Pike whispered something.
"But there might be another recording."
Ruiz looked at him.
"What recording?"
"The camera system sends a low-resolution diagnostic preview to the maintenance server."
"Does it store?"
"Usually twelve hours."
Ruiz's face tightened.
"Usually?"
Pike nodded.
"If nobody manually cleared it."
They searched the server.
The preview file was gone.
Someone had deleted it twenty minutes after Pike erased the primary footage.
But whoever deleted it made a mistake.
The server automatically generated thumbnail frames.
Most were corrupted.
One was not.
It showed Vanessa directly behind Khloe.
Both hands pressed against Khloe's back.
Richard stood several feet away.
Watching.
Harrison stared at the image.
The timestamp was clear.
9:42:17 a.m.
One second before Khloe fell.
Ruiz whispered.
"That's enough to destroy the accident story."
Harrison shook his head.
"No."
"It's enough to destroy Vanessa's story."
He pointed at Richard.
May you like
"But I want to know why he was watching."
That afternoon, Khloe opened her eyes.
