Chapter 6 - What the Camera Kept
Ethan looked from the bottle to Grace.
For one awful moment, the old habit returned.
Find the easiest explanation.
Choose the person with the least power.
Make the problem leave.
Grace saw him doing it.
“Ask me,” she said.
He swallowed.
“Have you ever been prescribed those?”
“No.”
“Have you seen that bottle before?”
“No.”
The officer photographed the label.
“We’ll verify it with the pharmacy when it opens.
A printed name doesn’t establish ownership.”
Ethan nodded.
Grace’s shoulders lowered a fraction.
His phone rang.
Sabrina.
He answered on speaker.
“Ethan, thank God.
Miles told me they found the pills.”
The hall went still.
The officer looked up.
Ethan’s voice stayed even.
“When did you speak to Miles?”
“A little while ago.”
“He left the hotel.”
“He was upset.”
“How did he know what the police found in Lily’s bathroom?”
Silence.
Grace could hear hospital announcements faintly through the phone.
Sabrina tried again.
“He said they might find something.
He’s been worried about Grace.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because you’re under enough stress.”
Ethan ended the call.
He stared at the screen.
Grace said nothing.
She didn’t need to.
Downstairs, Mrs. Alvarez opened her old tablet at the kitchen counter.
“There’s something you should see.”
Ethan glanced at the screen.
A grainy kitchen video showed Miles entering through the back door that afternoon.
He carried a narrow white pharmacy bag.
Grace leaned closer.
“I thought the house cameras were controlled by security.”
“They are,” Mrs. Alvarez said.
“This one isn’t.”
She pointed at a tiny camera above the pantry.
“Somebody kept taking money from my purse last winter.
I bought it myself.”
Ethan remembered Miles explaining that several staff members had been questioned.
One had resigned.
The money had never been found.
On the tablet, Miles opened the pharmacy bag.
Sabrina entered the kitchen.
She took the bottle and slipped it into her purse.
The video had no sound.
It didn’t need any.
Ethan called Officer Ruiz.
When he finished, Mrs. Alvarez looked at him across the kitchen.
Her voice was gentle.
That made it worse.
“Sir, there are people in this house who have been trying to tell you things for a very long time.”
May you like
Upstairs, Lily screamed.
Grace was moving before the tablet hit the counter.
