Chapter 3 - The Missing Camera
Red and blue light flashed across Margaret’s front windows.
Daniel still held one hand over the camera hidden inside his blazer.
Evelyn stared at him from the floor.
He had crossed a line that could not be explained by shock, loyalty or fear. He had removed physical evidence while knowing the police were already approaching.
Margaret heard the patrol car doors slam outside.
Her expression transformed.
The fury vanished.
Her shoulders lowered. Her mouth trembled. By the time the front doorbell rang, she looked like a frightened elderly woman facing an unstable intruder.
Daniel noticed the change and followed her lead.
He moved the fallen bat away from the envelope with the side of his shoe.
Evelyn watched him do it.
The front doorbell rang again.
“Police,” a man called. “Open the door.”
Margaret hurried into the hallway.
Evelyn reached for her phone.
The call was still connected.
“Did you hear that?” she whispered.
“Yes,” the woman answered. “Everything since activation is being stored.”
Evelyn closed her eyes briefly.
The call had recorded Daniel removing the camera, but audio alone would not show what he had placed in his pocket.
She needed the original footage.
Margaret opened the front door.
Two officers entered with cautious steps. Officer Lila Brooks was a woman in her early forties with observant eyes. Her partner, Officer Grant Miller, scanned the room, immediately noticing the bat, the broken glass and Evelyn on the floor.
Brooks crossed to Evelyn.
“Ma’am, don’t try to stand. An ambulance is coming.”
Margaret clasped both hands over her chest.
“She slipped. We were arguing and she knocked over the glass. She is under tremendous stress.”
Brooks looked at the bat.
“Why is that on the floor?”
“It fell from the umbrella stand.”
Daniel appeared beside his mother.
“That’s what happened.”
Evelyn looked at him.
He could not meet her eyes.
Officer Miller moved closer to the bat but did not touch it.
“Did anyone swing this?”
“No,” Margaret said immediately.
Brooks crouched near Evelyn.
“Can you tell me your name?”
“Evelyn Carter.”
“Did you fall?”
“No.”
Margaret inhaled sharply.
Evelyn kept her gaze on Officer Brooks.
“Margaret Hale struck me once across the ribs with that bat. My husband watched her do it.”
Daniel’s head snapped up.
“Evelyn, you’re confused.”
“She is not confused,” Brooks said.
Margaret’s voice cracked theatrically.
“She came here threatening to destroy my son. She was waving legal papers and screaming. I picked up the bat because I was afraid.”
Evelyn looked at the officer.
“She raised it before I moved toward her.”
“Were you armed?”
“No.”
“Did you touch Mrs. Hale?”
“No.”
Miller stepped toward Margaret.
“Ma’am, I need you to move away from the hallway and keep your hands where I can see them.”
Margaret’s face stiffened.
“I am sixty-four years old.”
“And I need you to follow my instructions.”
The ambulance arrived moments later.
Two paramedics entered with a stretcher and medical bag. One knelt beside Evelyn, asking where she had been struck. The other began checking her blood pressure and oxygen level.
When the first paramedic gently examined Evelyn’s side, pain flashed so sharply that she gasped.
Daniel took a step forward.
She raised her hand again.
“Stay there.”
Officer Brooks noticed.
“Is there a reason you don’t want your husband near you?”
“He removed the security camera after I called for help.”
Every face in the room changed.
Miller turned toward the empty camera mount.
Brooks stood.
“Mr. Carter, where is the camera?”
Daniel looked toward the arch as though seeing the bare bracket for the first time.
“What camera?”
Evelyn stared at him.
“It’s in his right jacket pocket.”
Daniel’s hand moved instinctively toward it.
Officer Miller stepped between him and the door.
“Keep your hands visible.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“Take the camera out slowly.”
Daniel hesitated.
Margaret’s breathing grew louder.
“Daniel,” she said, warning hidden inside his name.
He reached into his pocket and removed the small black device.
Miller held out an evidence bag.
Daniel did not surrender it.
“I own part of this property.”
“No, you don’t,” Evelyn said.
He looked at her.
She continued, “Your mother owns the house. I own the security system.”
The paramedics lifted Evelyn carefully onto the stretcher.
As they secured the straps, Daniel finally dropped the camera into the evidence bag.
Officer Brooks examined it.
“The storage card is missing.”
Evelyn’s gaze moved to Daniel’s pocket.
Daniel shook his head.
“There was no card.”
Margaret spoke too quickly.
“The camera was never operational.”
Brooks looked from mother to son.
“Then why remove it?”
No one answered.
Evelyn felt the stretcher begin to move.
She turned her head toward the sealed legal envelope, still lying beside the wine.
“My envelope.”
Officer Brooks picked it up carefully.
“Would you like this brought to the hospital?”
Evelyn nodded.
Margaret stepped forward.
“That document concerns my family.”
Brooks placed it on Evelyn’s chest beneath the safety strap.
“Then Mrs. Carter can decide when to share it.”
As the paramedics wheeled Evelyn toward the hallway, Daniel followed.
“Ev, I’m coming with you.”
“No.”
“I’m your husband.”
“You made your choice.”
The front door opened to the flashing lights outside.
Evelyn caught one final glimpse of Margaret standing beneath the empty camera mount.
Her mask had slipped.
The old woman’s face was not frightened now.
It was calculating.
At the hospital, the sealed envelope remained unopened beside Evelyn’s bed while doctors examined the bruising along her ribs.
No bones were broken, but two ribs were badly contused and the muscles between them had been damaged. She would need monitoring, pain management and several weeks of restricted movement.
Officer Brooks arrived after midnight.
She closed the hospital-room door behind her.
“We found the missing memory card,” she said.
Evelyn slowly pushed herself higher against the pillows.
“Where?”
“Inside your husband’s trouser cuff.”
Evelyn’s breath caught.
Brooks’s expression remained grave.
“There is a problem. The card does not contain today’s recording.”
“Was it erased?”
“No. It contains video from three nights ago.”
Evelyn looked toward the sealed envelope.
May you like
Brooks pulled a chair close to the bed.
“Mrs. Carter, the footage shows your husband and Margaret discussing how to make your death appear accidental.”
