Chapter 10 - The Parking Garage
Victor returned to the mansion with one objective.
Find proof.
Claire had died in an underground parking garage seventeen months earlier.
The official report stated that she experienced sudden respiratory distress after leaving a charity meeting.
Security footage from the garage had supposedly been corrupted.
Victor now knew corruption was rarely an accident.
Naomi contacted the building’s former security contractor.
A backup archive still existed.
Victor watched the footage that afternoon.
Claire entered the garage at 8:42 p.m.
She reached her car.
At 8:44, another woman appeared.
Serena.
They argued.
There was no audio.
Claire tried walking away.
Serena caught her arm.
Claire pulled free.
Mercer then entered the frame.
Victor stopped the video.
Lily stood behind him.
“Keep going.”
Victor pressed play.
Mercer handed Serena something.
A small spray bottle.
Serena sprayed it near Claire’s face.
Claire immediately coughed.
She stumbled.
Mercer guided her into the passenger seat.
Serena drove the car away.
Twenty-three minutes later, the vehicle returned.
Serena and Mercer exited.
Claire remained inside.
They walked away.
At 9:21 p.m., another person discovered Claire unconscious.
Victor shut the laptop.
Nobody spoke.
The evidence did not prove exactly what substance had been used.
But it destroyed the story Victor had believed for seventeen months.
Claire had not died alone.
Daniel entered.
“We found Serena.”
Victor stood immediately.
“Where?”
“She used an old service tunnel beneath the east garden.”
“Where did it lead?”
“Outside the property wall.”
Victor grabbed his jacket.
Daniel stopped him.
“She isn’t there anymore.”
Victor stared.
“We found the car she used.”
“Where?”
“Train station.”
Lily looked alarmed.
“Was she leaving?”
“No.”
Daniel held up a small evidence bag.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed Lily holding Oliver in Central Park.
The picture had been taken from a distance.
Another photograph showed Lily leaving the nanny agency.
Another showed her visiting a grocery store.
Another showed Oliver sleeping in his stroller.
Victor’s expression darkened.
“She’s been following them.”
Daniel nodded.
“For months.”
Lily looked terrified.
Daniel continued.
“There was also a handwritten schedule.”
He gave it to Victor.
Every hour of Lily’s normal day had been documented.
At the bottom was one date.
Tomorrow.
Beside it were two words.
FINAL TRANSFER.
Victor looked toward Oliver’s nursery.
“What transfer?”
Nobody knew.
Then Lily suddenly remembered something.
“Tomorrow is Oliver’s pediatric appointment.”
Victor stared at her.
“At the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Which hospital?”
“Blackwood Medical Center.”
Victor’s phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
It showed the entrance of Blackwood Medical Center.
Under it was a sentence.
BRING THE BOY OR EVERYONE LEARNS WHAT YOUR FAMILY DID.
Victor stared at the screen.
Serena was no longer hiding.
May you like
She wanted a confrontation.
And she wanted Oliver there.
