Chapter 18 - The Camera in the Nursery
We searched everything. The farmhouse. Our phones. The baby monitor we'd brought from home. Forensics found nothing until Ruby pointed at the stuffed rabbit she'd kept with her since her birthday.
"Mr. Hale gave me Bunny," she said. "He told me not to take the little bell off because it helps Bunny sleep."
The bell wasn't a bell. It was a miniature wireless device concealed inside a plastic casing. Someone had been able to hear conversations whenever the toy was near its paired receiver.
I felt cold all over. Martin had sat at our dinner table and watched Ruby hug that rabbit. He'd smiled while handing her a listening device.
Vega sealed it in an evidence bag. "We can use its connection history," she said. "And we can find out who collected the recordings."
Claire held Ruby on her lap. "You did nothing wrong, baby."
"But I kept his secret."
"You told us when it mattered. That's what brave people do."
Ruby leaned against her. "I don't want any more secrets."
"Neither do I," Claire whispered.
By evening, officers identified the receiver's last connection at a vacant rental house owned through one of Celia's companies. They moved in with a warrant. Celia wasn't there, but Martin was, packing computers into a suitcase.
He ran out the back and slipped on the wet deck. Officers arrested him after a brief struggle. The retrieved computers contained audio recordings, the forged demolition authorization, and plans to discredit Claire in family court.
One recording contained Celia's instructions: "Make them believe the baby isn't legally theirs. Scared parents do what you tell them."
With that, prosecutors sought arrest warrants and asset freezes. For the first time, the threat looked smaller than the evidence.
That night, Claire began having contractions.
They were five minutes apart when we left for the hospital.
In the emergency entrance, she grabbed my arm.
May you like
"Evan," she gasped, "I think our baby is coming."
Then the power went out.
