Chapter 7 - What the Camera Saw
Daniel asked the hospital to restrict access to Valeria’s chart and preserve the request log. The old Northside account should no longer have been active.
Alejandro gave the police Lucia’s letters and the photograph of Daniel. Then he drove to the mansion with Marisol.
Owen met them in the security office.
“I found the maintenance order,” he said.
The back staircase camera had been scheduled for replacement two days after Valeria’s fall.
“It was working that night,” Alejandro said.
Owen nodded. “Esther told me to disconnect the recorder the next morning. She said a private family matter had been captured.”
“Where’s the footage?”
“I was ordered to erase it.”
Alejandro waited.
Owen opened a drawer and placed a small drive on the desk.
“I made a copy first.”
They watched the recording together.
Valeria stepped onto the landing carrying a folder. Esther followed and blocked her path. Valeria tried to walk around her. Esther caught her arm. Valeria pulled free.
Then Esther pushed her.
Valeria fell down the stairs and lay still.
Gabriel entered from the lower hall. He started toward her, but Esther raised her hand. He stopped.
Alejandro gripped the edge of the desk. On the screen, nearly a minute passed before Gabriel finally knelt beside Valeria.
“There’s no sound?” he asked.
“No. I kept the original recorder too. Police can check both.”
Alejandro called the detective. Owen agreed to hand over everything.
On their way out, Marisol received a message from an unknown number.
Ask why the doctor left the mansion with Gabriel.
A photograph followed. It showed Daniel and Gabriel walking out through the side gate the night Valeria fell.
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Alejandro looked at the image.
Daniel had told him he came to help Valeria. He had never mentioned leaving with the man who watched her fall.
