Chapter 3 - EIGHT DAYS OF FOOTAGE

Detective Rachel Ortiz had investigated Isabella’s death. She had never been impressed by Lorenzo’s money, which was one reason he trusted her.

The next evening, he sat across from her in a police interview room while she opened the warehouse footage.

For several minutes, nothing happened. A truck passed. A man collected bottles from a dumpster. Rain spotted the camera lens.

Then a woman stepped into view.

Dark coat. Short hair. One hand pressed to her side.

Bruno walked beside her.

Lorenzo leaned forward. “That’s him.”

Rachel paused the video. “Tell me why.”

He pointed to the brown collar. When Bruno lifted his head, the bent leash ring flashed beneath his neck.

Rachel made a note and pressed play.

The woman crouched to open a can of dog food. Bruno ate from her palm. At the sound of a passing train, she looked up.

Her face filled only a small part of the screen. She had a mark near her temple. Her cheeks were hollow.

Lorenzo knew her.

“Isabella.”

Rachel watched him, then the screen. “We’ll need stronger identification.”

“That’s my wife.”

“We’re going to find her,” Rachel said. “And we’re going to find out who was buried in her place.”

She rewound the clip. The woman entered the warehouse at 3:17 p.m. At 3:22, a gray SUV crossed the far end of the street. Its plate was hidden by mud.

“She saw it,” Lorenzo said.

On-screen, Isabella grabbed Bruno’s collar and pulled him through the loading door.

Rachel advanced the footage. An hour later, Isabella came out the back way, moving fast. She never returned.

At the warehouse, technicians had found a plain gold band tucked into a crack in the wall. Lorenzo recognized it as the ring Isabella wore when she traveled. A trace of blood on the concrete had also been sent for comparison.

“We’ll call when the result comes in,” Rachel said.

Lorenzo stood. “I want to see the original crash file.”

“I’m already reviewing it.”

His phone rang. Mason.

“Someone accessed your home security account at 2:11 this morning,” Mason said. “They looked at the study camera, then Sophia’s room.”

Lorenzo turned toward Rachel.

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“Find out who,” he told Mason.

“I’m working on it. But the login came from inside the estate.”