Chapter 2 - Twelve Missing Minutes
Julian carried Lily into the library and locked the door behind them.
"Call 911," he told Maya. "And don't let Vivian leave."
Vivian laughed once, sharp and breathless. "You cannot be serious. Julian, look at her. She has spent months turning Lily against me."
Maya held her injured wrist against her chest. "I did not make your wife lift a child over a railing."
"She slipped!"
"Then why did you say, 'Watch her fall'?"
Vivian's mouth closed.
Julian heard it from the other side of the library door.
When he came back out, his face had changed. The shock was gone. Something colder had taken its place.
"The cameras," he said.
He opened the security app on his phone.
The foyer camera loaded. The kitchen loaded. The driveway loaded.
The upstairs hall showed a gray screen.
Julian frowned and tapped the timeline.
6:41 p.m. Vivian walked past the balcony with a glass of wine.
6:42 p.m. Lily appeared in the hall carrying a stuffed rabbit.
Then the recording jumped.
6:55 p.m. Julian entered through the front door.
Twelve minutes were gone.
"That's impossible," Julian said.
Maya felt the back of her neck tighten.
The house system stored everything in the cloud. Julian had bragged about it after a package thief took a watch from the front steps. The footage could not be erased without an administrator login.
Vivian folded her arms. "There. You see? There is no proof because nothing happened."
A siren sounded in the distance.
Julian looked at her slowly. "Only two people have the administrator password."
"You and me," Vivian said.
"No. Me and the security company."
For the first time, Vivian looked afraid.
Maya's phone buzzed in her apron pocket.
Unknown Number.
She opened the message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET HER FALL.
A second message appeared.
NOW YOU ARE PART OF IT.
May you like
Maya looked toward the front windows. A dark SUV was parked across the street with its lights off.
The engine was running.
