Chapter 3 - The Dead Man on Camera
His name was Thomas Bell.
Officially, he had died in a warehouse fire in Newark.
Unofficially, Claire had never believed it.
“That’s impossible,” Ethan said.
Claire touched the screen. “It’s him.”
Victoria folded her arms. “You saw him once, three years ago, in the middle of a crisis.”
“I saw him twice.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
Claire continued. “The second time was outside Anna’s funeral. He was sitting in a gray sedan. When I walked toward him, he drove away.”
Ethan turned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because that night I found a note in my car.”
“What note?”
Claire looked at Victoria. “It said, ‘Your baby won’t be the first thing this family loses.’”
Ethan’s face changed. At the time, Claire had not been pregnant. She had assumed the message meant any future child.
Victoria laughed once, but there was no humor in it. “This is insane.”
Police sirens sounded outside.
Detective Lena Ortiz arrived with two officers and took control fast. Doors were sealed. Guests were separated. Staff lists were pulled.
“Thomas Bell wasn’t on tonight’s catering roster,” Ortiz said fifteen minutes later. “The jacket he wore belongs to a man we found unconscious in a laundry room.”
Ethan went pale. “Was Lily conscious?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Claire handed over the ribbon and shoe.
Ortiz looked at Victoria. “You told security to ‘stop her’ just before the blackout. What did you mean?”
Victoria didn’t blink. “The child was making a scene.”
“You stood up like she was about to pull a fire alarm.”
“She was pointing at a pregnant woman and accusing her of something.”
Lena turned to Claire. “What does Lily think you know?”
Claire’s throat tightened.
“The truth about Anna’s death.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
It was the first time Claire had said the sentence out loud.
She told Ortiz about the balcony, the locked door and Anna’s scream. She admitted she had lied during the original investigation.
“Why?” Ortiz asked.
Claire stared at Victoria.
“Because somebody showed me photographs of Ethan leaving a hotel with another woman and told me the family could destroy my marriage, my career and anyone I loved if I contradicted the accident report.”
Ethan stared at her. “Those photos were fake.”
“I know that now.”
Victoria’s mouth tightened.
Ortiz noticed.
Then one of the officers rushed in holding a clear evidence bag.
Inside was the silver memory card Lily had shown in the ballroom.
They had found it near the service exit.
“Can we read it?” Ethan asked.
Ortiz nodded toward a technician.
Thirty seconds later, a video file opened.
The image showed Anna’s bedroom at the lake house.
Anna appeared on camera, frightened and whispering.
“If anything happens to me,” she said, “it wasn’t Claire.”
Then Anna looked toward the door.
Her face drained of color.
“Oh God,” she whispered. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
May you like
The bedroom door opened.
And Ethan’s father stepped into the room.
