Chapter 12 - The Dashcam in Locker Forty-Two
“She's safe,” Mateo said after a call. “I have eyes on her right now.”
Nora sat on the diner floor, fighting the urge to be sick. “They can reach her anywhere.”
“Then we change the routine,” Ortiz said. “And we stop pretending this is only about old money.”
David gave a formal recorded statement at the station. With a court-authorized search, officers retrieved the memory card from locker forty-two at a self-storage facility. Ortiz asked everyone to wait while the file was examined and copied properly.
Hours later, she showed Gideon and Amina a short, grainy clip. Two vehicles followed Lydia's sedan. One accelerated sharply. The camera jolted as the cars disappeared around a bend. The impact itself was partly obscured by trees.
“It's not a perfect view,” Ortiz said. “But the timestamps are consistent with the crash. The vehicle plates may be recoverable.”
Then came audio. A woman's angry voice said, “Get the bag. She can't take it to her father.”
“I know that voice,” he whispered.
Amina stopped him. “Recognition alone isn't enough. We'll have the recording authenticated.”
“I know.”
In the hotel, Ivy asked to hear only what Nora thought she should. Nora told her the truth without the worst details: Lydia had been trying to protect people, and adults had hurt her because she wouldn't be quiet.
“Was she brave?” Ivy asked.
“Yes. And scared. People can be both.”
Ivy sat on Nora's lap for the first time in months.
Across town, Malcolm's lawyer filed an emergency petition claiming Gideon was mentally unfit to control foundation funds. Celeste told the press her husband had become confused by an elaborate scam involving a child.
Amina read the filing with open disbelief.
“They want a hearing tomorrow,” she said. “If they freeze his authority before we secure the books, they can move the money again.”
Gideon took off his glasses. “Then tomorrow we fight for my daughter's name.”
May you like
Amina shook her head.
“First we have to fight for yours.”
