Chapter 4 - The Missing Forty-Seven Minutes

The first patrol cars arrived in nine minutes.

By then, Arthur had moved Leo to the kitchen, where Elena wrapped him in a blanket and made him sip water. Two officers searched the mansion while a detective named Mara Collins photographed the broken wall.

"Nobody touches anything," she said. "Not the camera, not the mattress, not the wrappers."

Elena handed her the memory card.

"This came from the camera inside."

Detective Collins raised an eyebrow. "You removed it?"

"Victoria tried to destroy the camera. I grabbed the card before she could."

"Good instinct."

Arthur paced beside the island.

"My wife is still missing."

An officer entered. "We cleared the first and second floors. No sign of her. One basement service door was open."

Arthur swore under his breath.

There was a tunnel from the basement wine room to the detached garage. It had been built decades earlier for staff deliveries.

Victoria knew about it.

"Check the garage."

The officer nodded and left.

Detective Collins turned to Arthur. "You have cameras on the property?"

"Every exterior entrance. Hallways too."

"Let's see the footage."

Arthur opened the security app on the kitchen monitor.

The timeline loaded.

Then he stared.

From 2:13 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., every camera in the west wing had gone black.

Forty-seven minutes.

Exactly the period when Leo disappeared.

"System failure?" Collins asked.

Arthur shook his head. "The system has backup power and redundant storage."

Elena spoke quietly. "Yesterday, Victoria asked me which cameras worked during an outage."

Arthur turned. "She asked you that?"

"She said she was worried about burglars."

Collins wrote it down.

Leo, sitting at the table, suddenly whispered, "The red-ring man used Dad's computer."

Arthur looked at him.

"Which computer?"

Leo pointed toward the second floor.

"The one in your office."

Arthur and Collins went upstairs together.

His office door was unlocked.

His laptop sat open.

On the screen was an unsigned legal document.

PETITION FOR DECLARATION OF PRESUMED DEATH.

The name listed beneath it was Leo Bennett.

Arthur stopped breathing.

Then Collins scrolled down.

May you like

She Tried to Kill a Disabled Woman at a Billionaire’s Pool Party—But One...

She had already lost her leg. Now, they were trying to take her life.At a luxury mansion filled with millionaires, a terrified you...

THEY DECLARED HER DEAD—THEN ORDERED HER CREMATED WHILE SHE WAS STILL ALI...

They were about to burn her alive.Her death certificate had already been signed. Her body was scheduled for immediate cremation. A...

She Pushed a Pregnant Woman in a Wheelchair Into the Pool—Then Her Husba...

She was pregnant. She was in a wheelchair. And the woman standing behind her was smiling.Seconds later, one brutal shove sent her...

If Leo were declared dead, control of a forty-two-million-dollar trust would transfer to his surviving guardian.

Victoria Bennett.