Chapter 10 - The Backup That Did Not Exist
Police sirens approached the house.
Dererick ran toward the back door carrying the equipment bag.
Vale followed.
Melissa stayed beside Anna.
“You really uploaded everything?”
“No.”
Melissa stared at her.
“You told them—”
“I needed them to believe it.”
They hurried downstairs.
Dererick was forcing open the rear door when red and blue lights flashed through the window.
Vale stood beside him, whispering urgently.
The miniature camera remained upstairs, but Anna’s phone continued recording.
Police entered through the front.
“Hands where we can see them!”
Dererick dropped the bag.
Vale raised both hands.
Immediately, Vale began speaking.
“My patient is having a delusional episode. Her husband called me for emergency assistance.”
Anna stepped into view with empty hands.
“I am not his patient.”
Vale continued.
“She has a documented history of paranoia.”
Melissa said, “The documents are false.”
Officers separated everyone.
Anna gave them her phone.
She explained the drugged tea, hidden camera, drives, and recordings involving Evelyn.
One officer opened the black bag.
Inside were gloves, scissors, evidence packets, medication, several drives, and photographs of Anna unconscious.
Vale’s claim of a medical emergency weakened instantly.
Dererick attempted a different story.
He said he was documenting Anna’s sleepwalking for her safety.
Then officers found the packet of Evelyn’s hair.
Melissa told them about the estate fraud.
For the first time, the entire structure became visible.
The bedroom was sealed as a crime scene.
Anna watched technicians remove the equipment.
The original miniature camera had recorded Dererick putting on gloves, positioning the device, approaching Anna with scissors, and discussing the hidden drives.
It had also captured enough audio from the hallway to preserve Vale’s order to destroy evidence.
At dawn, Dererick and Vale were taken away for questioning.
Melissa was not arrested immediately.
She voluntarily surrendered her phone and bank records.
Anna sat on the front steps wrapped in a blanket.
Melissa remained several feet away.
“I didn’t know he killed her,” she whispered.
Anna looked at her.
“But you knew he was drugging me.”
Melissa began crying.
“I thought it was only enough to make the videos believable.”
“Believable for what?”
Melissa lowered her eyes.
“To have you declared incompetent.”
The police had stopped the immediate crime.
But the betrayal had begun long before that night.
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And Melissa had not been merely watching from the hallway.
She had helped choose the plan.
