Chapter 12 - The Video Beneath the Cabinet
The cracked phone was treated like the most fragile object in the county.
Its screen no longer worked, and the back casing had separated slightly where it struck the tile.
The digital unit warned that recovering data could take time.
Thomas had already learned to hate that phrase.
Time was the thing his family had almost run out of in the kitchen.
Time was what Nathan had used to erase footage, move money, frighten witnesses, and reshape the story.
Now time stood between them and whatever Eli's phone had seen.
Megan remembered more while they waited.
She recalled Nathan arriving through the back door while Eli was upstairs.
She recalled Judith refusing to let him take the second phone because she claimed she did not know where Megan had hidden it.
She recalled Nathan saying an audit would destroy everyone, not just him.
Then her memory became scattered.
"He kept looking toward the stairs," Megan said.
"Like he was worried Eli would come down."
Thomas sat beside her.
"Did you see him touch the cookies?"
"No."
"The pitcher?"
Megan shut her eyes.
"I remember Mom pouring."
"I remember Nathan near the sink earlier."
"I don't know what either of them did."
Thomas took her hand.
"You don't have to force it."
"Yes, I do."
Her voice broke.
"Because people are deciding what happened based on pieces."
"And every missing piece makes you look guilty."
Thomas did not correct her.
The police had not arrested him, but the financial evidence continued to cast a shadow.
His electronic signature appeared on two more transfers discovered during the forensic review.
Nathan's office had been searched, yet no device containing the forged certificates had been found.
Nathan himself remained missing.
Judith remained free under investigation.
Marissa and her children were staying at an undisclosed location.
Thomas's company had lost nearly half its active jobs in three days.
At noon, Marcus came to the hospital carrying a cardboard box.
"Before you panic, these aren't more problems."
Thomas looked inside.
Old external drives, backup disks, and archived company laptops filled the box.
"I went through the storage room."
"This is everything from the year Nathan handled the refinance."
Thomas stared at him.
"Police already took what they wanted."
"They took the obvious stuff."
Marcus lifted an old laptop with a cracked corner.
"This thing hasn't been turned on since 2023."
"It might still have logs."
Thomas called Ortiz instead of touching anything.
The computer went directly to forensics.
That decision paid off faster than anyone expected.
By evening, technicians recovered a credential-management program Nathan had installed during the refinance.
The program had created and stored Thomas's original signing certificate.
More importantly, access logs showed the certificate had been exported to an external drive connected by a user account named NCOLE.
Thomas read the report twice.
"That's him."
Ortiz nodded.
"It strongly supports unauthorized access."
"So I'm cleared?"
"On the transfer issue, this helps significantly."
Thomas almost smiled.
"I'll take significantly."
Then Detective Price entered.
He looked irritated.
"We have another problem."
Ortiz's expression tightened.
"What?"
"Judith Lane came in with her attorney."
"She's giving a statement."
Thomas felt his body tense.
"About what?"
Price looked at him.
"She says she put something in Megan's lemonade."
Silence filled the room.
Thomas stared at him.
"She confessed?"
"Partially."
Judith claimed Nathan had given her a small packet and told her it contained a harmless sleep aid.
He had convinced her Megan was exhausted, irrational, and about to destroy the family trust over a misunderstanding.
Judith admitted adding the contents to one cup of lemonade after Nathan left.
She said her goal was to make Megan sleep through the four o'clock meeting with the auditor.
She insisted she never intended serious harm.
She also insisted she never touched Eli's cookie.
"That's supposed to make her sympathetic?" Thomas asked.
Price shook his head.
"It's an admission to a serious act."
"But it separates her from whatever happened to Eli."
Ortiz looked thoughtful.
"Why confess now?"
Price shrugged.
"Her attorney says she wants to cooperate."
Thomas laughed.
"She wants to get ahead of the video."
Everyone looked at him.
"She knows we found Eli's phone."
Ortiz's face changed.
"How would she know that?"
The discovery had not been public.
Only a handful of investigators, hospital staff, Thomas, Megan, and Eli knew.
Price frowned.
"Word travels."
Ortiz turned to him.
"Not that word."
For the first time, Thomas saw tension between the two detectives.
Price crossed his arms.
"Are you suggesting someone leaked it?"
Ortiz did not answer.
Her phone rang.
It was the digital unit.
They had recovered one video file from Eli's damaged phone.
The file ran for fifty-eight minutes.
The first thirty-eight minutes showed nothing but the kitchen counter, a glass jar, and the edge of a cereal box while Eli narrated his sugar-crystal project.
Then voices entered the room.
Megan.
Judith.
Nathan.
The camera angle never showed their faces clearly, but the audio was excellent.
At minute forty-six, Judith said, "I agreed to delay the meeting, not to scare a child."
Nathan answered, "Then keep him upstairs."
Megan said, "What are you two talking about?"
There was movement.
A shadow crossed the counter.
May you like
Then Nathan said a sentence that made Ortiz stop the video.
"By tonight, Thomas will be the only person anyone is looking at."
