Chapter 3 - SOMEBODY DELETED IT
“Gone?”
Owen Price’s voice was suddenly sharper.
“Explain.”
The operator answered through the radio.
“Camera Seventeen recorded normally until 8:41 p.m. Then there’s an eleven-minute gap.”
Rachel looked at the ballroom clock.
The missing brooch had been announced at 8:49.
Exactly inside the gap.
Victor exhaled.
“Well, that settles nothing.”
Thomas Reed spoke from behind him.
“Actually, it settles quite a lot.”
Victor turned.
The warmth vanished from his face.
“Thomas.”
Thomas walked toward them.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Thomas smiled faintly.
“You’ve been saying that for two years.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
Rachel stepped closer to Thomas.
“You knew this would happen.”
“I knew something would.”
“What?”
Thomas looked around at the guests.
“Not here.”
Victor laughed.
“There he goes again.”
He addressed the surrounding board members.
“Thomas has spent two years blaming me for his dismissal.”
“You didn’t dismiss me,” Thomas said.
“You threatened my daughter’s mortgage, froze my severance and told me to disappear.”
The room became quieter.
Victor’s jaw tightened.
Thomas continued.
“And I did.”
He looked at Rachel.
“That was my mistake.”
Victor stepped toward him.
“If you have an accusation, make it.”
Thomas met his eyes.
“I have several.”
Rachel’s heartbeat quickened.
But Owen interrupted.
“Camera Seventeen isn’t our only camera.”
Victor turned.
“What?”
Owen pointed across the ballroom.
“There are three overlapping security zones.”
He spoke into the radio.
“Pull Cameras Twelve, Nineteen and Twenty-Three.”
A long pause followed.
Victor’s face remained still.
Too still.
Then the operator answered.
“Twelve was blocked by a floral arrangement.”
“Nineteen?”
“Angle doesn’t cover the pocket.”
“And Twenty-Three?”
Silence.
Owen frowned.
“Control?”
Finally the voice returned.
“Twenty-Three caught something.”
Every eye moved toward Victor.
Owen asked, “What?”
“It caught Mr. Bennett approaching the girl.”
Emily squeezed Rachel’s hand.
“And after that?”
“His body blocks the exact exchange.”
Victor smiled.
“There.”
But the operator wasn’t finished.
“However…”
Victor’s smile faded.
“We caught his reflection.”
Rachel turned.
“In what?”
“The mirrored champagne display behind the dessert table.”
Thomas Reed closed his eyes.
Almost in relief.
Owen looked at Victor.
Victor said nothing.
“Send it to the ballroom presentation system,” Owen ordered.
Victor moved.
Fast.
“No.”
Rachel stepped between him and Owen.
Victor stopped inches from her.
His voice dropped.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
Rachel stared into his eyes.
“Then enlighten me.”
“You’re about to destroy Daniel’s foundation over a misunderstanding.”
“No.”
Rachel glanced at Emily.
“I’m about to find out why a grown man needed to frame an eight-year-old girl.”
The giant screen behind the stage flickered.
Guests turned.
The charity presentation disappeared.
Security footage appeared.
There was Emily.
Standing beside the dessert table.
Victor entered the frame.
He glanced toward Rachel.
Then toward Camera Seventeen.
Then his hand disappeared into his jacket.
The main angle couldn’t show what happened next.
But in the mirrored champagne display behind them, the reflection was unmistakable.
Victor removed the brooch.
Held it toward Emily.
Then pushed it into her pocket.
A stunned sound swept through the ballroom.
Emily whispered,
“I told you.”
Rachel looked at Victor.
His face had gone pale.
But Thomas wasn’t watching the screen.
He was watching Victor’s ring.
And under his breath, he said,
“Oh, God.”
Rachel heard him.
“What?”
Thomas looked at her.
“That ring.”
May you like
His voice trembled.
“I saw Daniel wearing it the night he died.”
