Chapter 4 - The Missing Minutes.
Ethan walked out of the nursery before answering.
He did not want the lawyer's voice anywhere near his sleeping son.
"Why would you assume police are involved?"
Graham Pierce exhaled slowly.
"Claire called me."
"Why?"
"Because she is frightened."
"Of what?"
"Of you."
Ethan stopped beside the upstairs gallery window.
The estate grounds below were flooded with security lights.
Private guards moved along the drive in pairs.
"She pushed Anna while Anna was holding Noah."
"Claire says Anna grabbed the child and you attacked Claire when she tried to intervene."
Ethan's voice cooled.
"Is that the story you're representing?"
"I'm not representing anyone yet."
"You called me at one thirty in the morning to tell me not to contact law enforcement after speaking with the woman I just ended my engagement with."
Graham went quiet.
Ethan continued.
"That sounds like representation."
"It sounds like damage control."
"For whom?"
"For the family."
Ethan almost laughed.
"My family is asleep in the nursery behind me."
"Ethan, do not become dramatic."
"You have thirty seconds to explain why you knew enough to call me."
Graham's tone shifted.
"Claire says there is missing security footage."
"How does she know that?"
Another pause.
"You told her."
"No."
The silence lasted longer this time.
Ethan looked toward the nursery door.
Anna stood just inside, listening without pretending otherwise.
"Graham."
"Perhaps Owen told her."
"Owen was standing beside me when the missing footage was discovered."
"Then I don't know."
Ethan's voice became flat.
"That's the first believable thing you've said."
"Watch yourself."
"No."
Ethan ended the call.
Anna stepped into the hallway.
"Was that Mr. Pierce?"
"Yes."
"He visits Claire when you're traveling."
Ethan turned so quickly that Anna took half a step back.
"What?"
"Not often."
"How often?"
"Twice that I saw."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Anna's face tightened.
"Because he's your family attorney."
The answer made sense.
That made it worse.
"Where did they meet?"
"Once in the south sitting room."
"And the other time?"
Anna looked toward the west wing.
"Near the old nursery corridor."
Ethan closed his eyes for one second.
When he opened them, Mara was walking toward them from the stairs.
She had heard enough to understand the importance.
"Put Pierce on the list."
Ethan nodded.
"Already there."
Mara held up a tablet.
"We recovered a local buffer from the hidden nursery camera."
"How much?"
"Not much."
"Show me."
Mara glanced at Anna.
"You may want to watch alone first."
Anna immediately shook her head.
"If it concerns Noah, I'm staying."
Ethan looked at her.
"You don't have to."
"I know."
Mara opened the file.
The first clip showed the nursery from the hidden angle.
The timestamp read eleven days earlier at 2:14 p.m.
Claire entered carrying Noah.
The baby was already crying.
She placed him in the crib and stood over him.
There was no audio.
For thirty seconds, she simply watched.
Then she removed something from her pocket.
The object was too small and the image too grainy to identify.
Claire leaned toward the crib.
The clip ended.
Ethan's breathing changed.
"Next."
Mara played another.
This one was six days old.
Claire entered again.
She closed the nursery door.
Then she looked directly toward the hidden camera.
Not near it.
At it.
She knew it was there.
Anna whispered.
"Oh my God."
Mara froze the frame.
"That establishes knowledge."
Ethan stared at Claire's face on the screen.
There was no panic in it.
No confusion.
She looked calm.
Comfortable.
Familiar with being watched.
"Why record herself?"
Mara nodded.
"Good question."
Anna looked at her.
"Maybe she wasn't recording herself."
Everyone turned toward Anna.
She pointed at the frozen image.
"Maybe she was making sure someone else was watching."
Mara's eyes narrowed with interest.
"A live feed."
"Exactly."
Ethan thought of the monitor in the locked room.
"Then the camera isn't just connected locally."
Mara nodded.
"We'll know more after imaging the laptop."
At two fifteen, Dr. Samuel Levin arrived at the estate.
He had been Noah's pediatrician since birth and had known Ethan for nearly a decade.
He examined Noah privately while Anna explained the unusual daytime sleep episodes.
Ethan stood near the window with his arms folded.
Every second felt too long.
Finally, Dr. Levin straightened.
"He appears healthy right now."
Ethan released a breath he had not noticed holding.
"Could someone have given him something?"
Dr. Levin chose his words carefully.
"Many common substances can make an infant unusually drowsy, and some should never be given without medical guidance."
"Can you test for them?"
"We can run appropriate screening based on symptoms and timing, but eleven days later we may not find much."
Ethan looked toward Anna.
"What about tonight?"
Anna answered.
"Claire had him for less than ten minutes before the foyer incident."
Dr. Levin looked at Noah again.
"Then I recommend we test what is medically appropriate and observe him."
Ethan nodded.
"Do it."
Dr. Levin packed his bag.
"One more thing."
"What?"
"Has his formula changed recently?"
Anna's expression shifted.
"Claire ordered a new brand two weeks ago."
Ethan stared at her.
"She told me you requested it."
Anna shook her head.
"I never requested anything."
Dr. Levin's face hardened.
"Don't use that formula until we know exactly what it is and where it came from."
Anna immediately moved toward the cabinet.
She opened it.
Then stopped.
"It's gone."
Ethan crossed the room.
"What do you mean gone?"
"There were three sealed containers here this afternoon."
The shelf was empty.
Mara stepped into the nursery.
"Nobody leaves the property until we search staff areas and review departures."
Owen appeared behind her.
"We may already have a problem."
Ethan turned.
"What now?"
Owen held up his phone.
"One vehicle left through the service gate at twelve fifty-two."
"Whose?"
"The registration comes back to Graham Pierce."
Ethan stared at him.
"Graham was here?"
"According to the gate camera, yes."
"Did he sign in?"
"No."
Mara looked toward the west corridor.
"Then we need the fourteen missing minutes."
By three in the morning, her technicians had reconstructed a portion of deleted server metadata.
The nursery corridor recording had not simply failed.
Someone had manually selected the fourteen-minute segment and overwritten it.
The command came from a systems terminal inside the mansion.
The terminal was located in the small security office beside the service entrance.
Only three badges had accessed that office during the relevant window.
Owen's.
Daniel Ross's.
And Claire Mercer's.
Owen looked genuinely shocked.
"Claire doesn't have a security badge."
Mara handed him the access report.
"She used one tonight."
Ethan read the badge number.
It belonged to Daniel.
At that exact moment, the front gate intercom rang.
One of the outside guards answered.
His voice came over Owen's radio.
"Mr. Vale, there's a woman at the gate asking for Anna Reed."
Anna looked confused.
"Who?"
The guard paused before answering.
"She says she's Anna's sister."
Anna went completely still.
Ethan noticed the terror in her face.
"You have a sister?"
May you like
Anna shook her head.
"No."
