Chapter 5 — Someone Inside
Chapter 5 — Someone Inside
Emma did not scream.
She locked the bedroom door, called Samuel, and waited with a heavy brass lamp clutched in both hands.
Within fifteen minutes, officers filled the hallway.
Ryan came out of his room, confused and barefoot.
“What happened?”
Emma showed him the message.
His face went white.
“That picture was taken tonight.”
“Yes.”
“Someone is inside the house.”
Samuel arrived and immediately requested access logs from the security system.
The mansion used smart locks, motion sensors, exterior cameras, and a central control panel.
The logs showed that Emma’s bedroom door had not opened.
Someone had taken the photograph through the narrow gap beneath the adjoining dressing-room door.
Only three people knew the rooms connected.
Emma.
Ryan.
And Victoria.
Claire had once helped Victoria reorganize the guest wing.
Samuel ordered everyone downstairs while officers searched the mansion.
They found no intruder.
But inside the dressing room, hidden behind a row of winter coats, they discovered a small wireless camera.
Ryan stared at it.
“How long has that been there?”
The officer placed it inside an evidence bag.
“We’ll need to analyze the storage.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“This is getting ridiculous.”
Emma looked at her.
“A camera was hidden beside the room where I sleep.”
“You expect us to believe I put it there?”
“I expect nothing from you anymore.”
Claire appeared at the top of the staircase carrying two suitcases.
“I’m leaving.”
Samuel blocked the front door.
“Not until the officers inspect your belongings.”
Claire’s eyes flashed.
“You have no right.”
“The homeowner requested it, and the police have reasonable cause.”
Claire turned toward Ryan.
“Are you going to let them treat me like a criminal?”
Ryan looked at the camera bag.
“If you didn’t do anything, let them search.”
Claire’s face changed.
The wounded expression disappeared.
In its place was raw hatred.
“You spineless little boy.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“Claire, calm down.”
“No,” Claire snapped. “I am done calming down while everyone protects her.”
She pointed at Emma.
“She gets the house. She gets the baby. She gets sympathy. She gets everything.”
Emma’s voice was quiet.
“You had my husband.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“I had whatever part of him his mother allowed me to borrow.”
Ryan turned toward Victoria.
“What does that mean?”
Claire’s eyes stayed on Victoria.
“Tell him.”
Victoria’s face went rigid.
“Claire is upset.”
“Tell him why I started working for him,” Claire said.
Ryan looked between them.
“What is she talking about?”
Claire smiled without warmth.
“Your mother hired me.”
Ryan shook his head.
“No. Human resources hired you.”
“After Victoria paid the recruiting firm.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Claire continued.
“She chose my clothes. She coached me on what you liked. She told me which restaurants to suggest and which problems in your marriage to exploit.”
Ryan stared at his mother.
“You arranged this?”
Victoria lifted her chin.
“I gave you an alternative.”
“To my wife?”
“To a woman who was taking you away from your family.”
Ryan looked physically ill.
Claire laughed again.
“Don’t look so shocked. Your mother built the affair. I just made sure she paid for it.”
An officer opened Claire’s suitcase.
Beneath several dresses, he found a red permanent marker.
The same shade used on Emma’s ultrasound photograph.
May you like
Then he pulled out a second object.
A small wireless camera identical to the one found upstairs.
