Chapter 3 - Twelve Missing Minutes
Mark drove home with a police detective behind him.
Victoria arrived separately with her attorney.
Nobody spoke in the foyer where the broken coffee cup had been cleaned away. The marble looked perfect again. Elena hated that most of all.
Detective Ruiz asked for the security footage.
Mark led him to the control room.
The Mercer house had thirty-two cameras. Every exterior door, every hallway, both staircases, the garage, and the nursery entrance were covered.
The foyer camera should have shown everything.
It showed breakfast staff leaving at 8:03.
It showed Elena carrying the tray at 8:11.
Then the screen jumped.
8:24.
Mark leaned closer.
"Where are the twelve minutes?"
The security technician swallowed. "Deleted."
Victoria stood in the doorway. "Then Elena deleted them."
Elena almost laughed.
"I don't know the password."
"You know every code in this house."
"Not the administrator code."
The technician looked uncomfortable.
Ruiz noticed. "What?"
"The deletion wasn't done from this room. It was done through the owner's mobile portal."
Mark's eyes shifted to Victoria.
She lifted her chin. "My phone was upstairs. Anyone could have used it."
"The portal requires Face ID," the technician said.
Silence.
Victoria's attorney stepped forward. "We are done answering technical questions without a warrant."
Mark turned on him. "This is my house."
"And my client lives here."
"Not tonight."
Victoria stared at her husband.
"Excuse me?"
"Pack a bag."
"You're throwing me out because a nanny told a story?"
Mark looked toward the staircase.
"My daughter told the same story."
Victoria's face sharpened. "Clara is three."
"Exactly."
Ruiz asked Elena to show him the nursery.
Inside, she pointed to the bottom drawer of the changing table.
"The folder was here."
It was empty.
Victoria stood behind them.
"Looking for something?"
Elena turned.
"You had papers in there."
"I keep receipts everywhere."
"They had Clara's name on them."
Victoria smiled without warmth. "You seem very interested in a child's finances for someone who changes sheets for a living."
Elena stepped toward her before Mark blocked the space between them.
"Don't," he said quietly.
Victoria's smile widened.
Then Detective Ruiz's phone buzzed.
He read the message twice.
"Mr. Mercer, your security company recovered an audit log from the cloud."
Mark looked at him.
"And?"
Ruiz raised his eyes.
"The footage was deleted at 8:19 this morning. The account used was Victoria Mercer's."
Victoria did not move.
May you like
Ruiz continued.
"But the deletion request was scheduled last night."
