Chapter 6 - The House Camera
Elliott called security before Rachel finished reading the message.
"Who had access to the interior cameras?"
"You, Mrs. Sutton, me, and the home systems contractor."
Leah stared at the photograph.
"This angle is from the upstairs hall camera."
Miles nodded.
"Yes."
"Then how did someone get a still?"
"I am checking."
Elliott's voice went cold.
"Check faster."
The system had been accessed through a temporary legal-review account created three months earlier after a break-in scare.
The account name was BLAKE-LEGAL.
Elliott closed his eyes.
"I approved that access."
Leah looked at him.
"Why?"
"Corinne said the foundation's insurer needed to review whether donor events created security exposure at the house. I gave her firm seventy-two hours."
"And nobody removed the account."
"No."
He looked ashamed.
Leah did not rescue him from it.
"This is what happens when powerful people get permanent access because temporary access feels convenient."
"I know."
"Do you?"
He met her eyes.
"I do now."
Charles Lang appeared from a paneled office.
"This circus has already cost Arbor Crown two donors," he said.
Leah was not on the board, but Elliott insisted she sit beside him.
"Then maybe those donors were buying the wrong thing," she said.
"Mrs. Sutton, philanthropy is more complicated than slogans."
"So is medicine. That is the problem."
Evelyn closed her eyes.
The board voted seven to four to suspend Elliott from signing authority pending an independent review.
He voted for his own suspension.
Charles looked stunned.
"You are making a mistake."
Elliott leaned toward the camera.
"If the foundation cannot survive an audit, it should not survive."
After the meeting, a courier arrived.
No return address.
Inside the envelope were three photographs.
Corinne entering Arbor Crown through a service entrance at 1:43 a.m. on the night Alicia was transferred.
Corinne meeting Charles Lang in the parking garage at 2:06.
And Corinne speaking with hospital chief operating officer Grant Voss at 2:11.
On the back of the last photograph someone had written:
ROOM 12 WAS NEVER A MEDICAL DECISION.
Then Naomi called.
Her voice shook.
"Leah, someone is outside my apartment."
May you like
A crash sounded behind her.
The line went dead.
