Chapter 4 - The Night the Cameras Lied
Nathaniel did not confront Everett further.
That surprised Everett.
It surprised Nathaniel too.
Three years earlier, grief would have made him impulsive.
Tonight grief made him patient.
“You’re right,” Nathaniel said.
Everett frowned.
“About what?”
“I’m emotional.”
Nathaniel closed the metal case.
“We’ll discuss this tomorrow.”
Suspicion flickered in Everett’s eyes.
Nathaniel carried the case downstairs.
He locked it inside his office safe.
Then he called someone Everett did not know.
Daniel Mercer had once supervised cybersecurity for one of Nathaniel’s portfolio companies. More importantly, he owed Nathaniel no personal loyalty.
By 8:00 the next morning, Daniel was sitting in the library with three laptops.
Nathaniel gave him copies of the security logs.
Daniel worked silently.
After forty minutes, he leaned back.
“These were manipulated.”
“You’re sure?”
“Completely.”
“By Everett?”
“I can tell you how. I can’t tell you who without more data.”
He pointed at the screen.
“Someone created a hidden administrator account. Every time it accessed a camera, the visible log was rewritten afterward.”
Nathaniel thought of Lily.
“Can you recover deleted footage?”
“Maybe.”
“How long?”
“Hours.”
“Do it.”
By noon, Daniel had reconstructed fragments.
The first clip came from the staff cottage exterior.
At 2:11 a.m., a hooded figure approached.
At 2:13, the figure entered using a key.
Marisol stared at the footage.
“I never gave anyone a key.”
Nathaniel asked, “Who has master access?”
She looked at him.
“Estate management.”
Everett.
The second recovered clip showed the figure leaving the cottage carrying Lily.
Marisol covered her mouth.
Nathaniel felt anger surge through him.
But the footage showed something important.
Lily appeared asleep.
She was carried carefully.
No violence.
The person placed her on the staircase, waited until she woke slightly, put the brass key into her hand, and whispered something.
Then disappeared toward the east corridor.
Daniel enhanced the image.
The face remained hidden.
But the figure wore a distinctive watch.
Nathaniel recognized it.
Everett had received it from him on his tenth anniversary working for the family.
Marisol whispered, “Why would he do this?”
Nathaniel did not know.
That was what disturbed him most.
If Everett wanted Evelyn’s evidence hidden, why deliberately lead Lily toward the music box?
Unless Everett had not done it.
Nathaniel leaned closer.
“Can you identify the person from height?”
Daniel measured proportions.
“Approximately five-seven.”
Nathaniel looked at Marisol.
Everett was six-one.
The figure was too short.
Someone else had carried Lily.
Someone else knew about the song.
The mystery split in two.
One person had falsified security records.
Another had deliberately guided Nathaniel toward Grace’s hidden evidence.
“Whoever carried Lily wanted me to find the case,” Nathaniel said.
Marisol’s face tightened.
“They used my daughter.”
“Yes.”
Nathaniel hated the truth of it.
Even if the person intended to help him, bringing Lily into the mansion without her mother’s permission crossed a line.
“I’ll find out who.”
Daniel recovered another fragment.
This one showed the east corridor at 2:15.
The hooded person paused outside Grace’s room.
Then removed the hood.
Marisol gasped.
Nathaniel stared.
Helen Price.
The housekeeper.
Sixty-two years old.
Employed by the Hail family for twenty-eight years.
Helen had known Grace from birth.
Nathaniel found her in the laundry room.
She did not deny it.
“You carried Lily into the house.”
Helen slowly folded a towel.
“Yes.”
Marisol stepped forward.
“How dare you?”
“I know.”
“You entered my cottage.”
“Yes.”
“You took my child while she was sleeping.”
Helen’s eyes filled.
“I was wrong.”
Marisol was furious.
Nathaniel raised a hand.
“Why?”
Helen looked at him.
“Because I ran out of time.”
“For what?”
“For getting you to remember.”
Nathaniel stared.
Helen sat down.
“Grace gave me the key.”
The room became silent.
“When?”
“Three days before she died.”
Nathaniel gripped the back of a chair.
Helen continued.
“She told me her mommy had taught her a secret song. She said if you ever forgot too much, I should give you the key.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because after Grace died, Everett took control of everything. He told staff that your doctors wanted all reminders removed.”
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
“I believed him.”
“So did we.”
Helen wiped her eyes.
“Then last month I found one of Grace’s old drawings behind a cabinet. It had lyrics from the song. I started asking questions.”
“And Everett noticed.”
“Yes.”
“He told me I was being dismissed at the end of October.”
Nathaniel’s eyes hardened.
“He never told me.”
“I know.”
“So you used Lily.”
Helen looked toward Marisol.
“I heard her humming one afternoon. The melody was close. I taught her the rest.”
“The lady in her dream,” Nathaniel whispered.
Helen nodded.
“I sang it to her several times while she was sleepy. I never told her about Grace.”
Marisol shook her head.
“That doesn’t excuse taking her.”
“No.”
Helen’s voice broke.
“It doesn’t.”
Nathaniel asked, “Why erase the cameras?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
“I assumed Everett.”
Nathaniel thought about the timing.
Everett had erased the footage that would have shown Helen bringing Lily inside.
Why protect Helen?
Unless he had not known what the footage contained.
Perhaps Everett automatically erased any suspicious activity around Grace’s room.
Daniel confirmed it an hour later.
A script had been installed years ago.
Any motion detected in the east corridor between midnight and 4:00 a.m. triggered an automatic deletion routine.
The script had been created using Everett’s hidden administrator account.
Nathaniel stared at the code.
Three years.
Everett had been automatically erasing nighttime footage from the hallway outside Grace’s bedroom for three years.
Why?
Daniel searched archived logs.
Then he found something worse.
The deletion routine had activated dozens of times.
Not once.
Not twice.
Thirty-seven times.
Someone had repeatedly entered Grace’s corridor at night.
Nathaniel looked at the dates.
Several occurred when Everett was traveling.
Meaning Everett was not necessarily the person entering.
He was hiding someone else.
Or something else.
Daniel recovered one final fragment.
A clip from eight months earlier.
A woman entered Grace’s room at 1:43 a.m.
She remained inside for eleven minutes.
When she emerged, she carried a small envelope.
Nathaniel leaned closer.
The woman turned toward the camera.
His breath stopped.
He knew her.
He had not seen her since Grace’s funeral.
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And according to Everett, she had sworn never to return to Hollow Ridge.
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