Chapter 10 - The Second Camera.
Claire enlarged Sophie's photograph until the pixels blurred.
Daniel's finger rested beside a page bearing a signature that looked almost exactly like hers.
The shape of the C was right.
The long tail on the final r was right.
Even the slight upward angle matched.
Claire looked at Daniel across the warehouse.
"Did you forge my signature?"
Daniel's face lost its color.
"No."
"Sophie says you practiced it."
"I didn't sign the proxy."
"That's not what I asked."
Daniel swallowed.
"Dad made me copy it."
Claire stared at him.
"Made you?"
"He said he needed a clean sample for the attorneys."
Rachel laughed in disbelief.
"Attorneys do not need you to reproduce your wife's signature."
Daniel looked ashamed.
"I know that now."
Claire shook her head.
"You knew it then."
Daniel had no answer.
The police took the flash drive he brought and documented the message from Sophie.
Claire remained at the warehouse until the evidence team finished securing Nora's archive.
Then Rachel drove her back to the hotel.
They had barely entered the room when Rachel received a call from the detective.
She listened for less than a minute before putting the phone on speaker.
"Say that again," Rachel said.
The detective's voice filled the room.
"We reviewed the apartment building's common-area security footage."
Claire sat down.
"Did you find Sophie?"
"Not exactly."
The detective explained that Sophie had entered 18C twice during the previous month.
Daniel had entered six times.
Martin had entered almost daily.
But there was another person whose presence did not fit the story anyone had told.
Elaine.
She had entered 18C eleven times in three weeks.
Claire looked at Rachel.
"She said she only searched it once."
"I know."
The detective continued.
"There's more."
On the night of the dinner, Elaine had entered 18C at 5:42 p.m.
She stayed for twenty-three minutes.
Then she returned to the family apartment before Claire and Daniel arrived.
"What was she doing there?" Claire asked.
"We don't know."
Rachel thanked the detective and ended the call.
Claire stared at the rain outside the hotel window.
"Everyone lies."
Rachel closed her laptop.
"Some lies are bigger than others."
Claire's phone rang from an unknown number.
She almost ignored it.
Then she answered.
"Hello?"
A woman's voice whispered, "Claire?"
Claire stood immediately.
"Sophie."
Rachel moved beside her.
"Where are you?"
"I can't tell you yet."
"Are you safe?"
"For now."
Claire closed her eyes in relief.
"Why are you using another phone?"
"Dad took mine."
"When?"
"After the police came."
Claire's pulse jumped.
"You texted me after that."
"From a backup phone."
"Where is that phone now?"
"I left it somewhere he'd find it."
Claire thought of the disposable device at the warehouse.
"Did you put a phone behind the freight elevator?"
Sophie was silent.
"Yes."
"Why call me from it?"
"I didn't."
Claire froze.
Rachel heard it too.
"Sophie, someone used that phone to call Claire today."
Sophie's breathing became audible.
"Then Dad found it."
"Or someone did," Rachel said.
Sophie whispered, "You need the second camera."
Claire frowned.
"What second camera?"
"At dinner."
Claire looked at Rachel.
"You were filming."
"My phone wasn't the only camera."
Sophie explained that Martin had installed a small security camera in the dining room months earlier after claiming expensive wine had gone missing during a party.
It was disguised inside a bookshelf sensor.
Claire had never noticed it.
Neither had Daniel, according to Sophie.
"Does it record audio?" Rachel asked.
"Yes."
Claire's heart began pounding.
Sophie's phone video started only seconds before the confrontation.
A fixed security camera might contain everything that happened before Claire entered the dining room.
"Where does it save footage?"
"A home server."
"Where?"
Sophie hesitated.
"18C."
Rachel looked toward the ceiling.
"Of course it is."
Claire remembered the two computers police had taken from the hidden office.
"Then they already have it."
Sophie spoke quickly.
"Not necessarily."
"Why?"
"Dad had remote access."
"He could delete it?"
"Yes."
Claire looked at Rachel.
Rachel was already calling the detective.
Sophie continued.
"Claire, listen to me."
"I'm listening."
"I checked the camera feed before dinner because I wanted proof Dad was pressuring Daniel about your proxy."
Claire's throat tightened.
"What did you see?"
Sophie went silent for several seconds.
When she finally spoke, her voice shook.
"Mom was in the room with them."
Claire stared at the wall.
"Elaine?"
"Yes."
"What was she doing?"
May you like
Sophie took a breath.
"She was the one who put the proxy on the table."
