Chapter 4 - Ten Seconds
I watched those ten seconds four times.
Not because I wanted to.
Because Detective Alvarez kept replaying them.
Jason standing at the top of the stairs.
Lily somewhere below him.
Motionless.
His face slowly turning toward the tiny hidden camera.
That faint smile.
Then the recording went black.
“Why did it stop?” Dad demanded.
Priya paused the video.
“Someone disconnected the camera.”
“Jason.”
“We can’t assume that yet.”
“I can.”
Detective Alvarez looked at me.
“I understand what you’re feeling.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Emily.”
“My sister told him not to touch her. He lunged at her. She disappeared down the stairs, and then he smiled.”
“We still need to establish exactly what happened.”
I hated how calm she was.
Then I realized she had to be.
Anger could fill in blanks.
Evidence couldn’t.
Priya opened the next file.
“There’s no camera footage after 9:44, but the system logged activity.”
“What kind?”
“Someone entered the home network administration panel from Jason’s phone at 9:51.”
Dad’s hands tightened on the chair.
“And?”
“The hallway camera was manually deleted from the network.”
My mother started sobbing again.
Detective Alvarez was already texting someone.
“Send me a copy of that log.”
“I already prepared one.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Lily was very thorough.”
That hurt almost as much as the video.
She had been afraid enough to prepare for her death.
And I had been thirty miles away, living my normal life.
I opened another folder.
Inside were screenshots.
Jason and Rachel.
Hotel reservations.
Messages.
Photos.
Then financial records.
One document showed $240,000 transferred from an investment account Lily had inherited from our grandmother.
The receiving company was called Red Cedar Consulting.
“Whose company is that?” I asked.
Daniel answered.
“According to Lily’s investigation, Rachel Monroe’s.”
My eyes snapped up.
“Rachel?”
“She registered it eighteen months ago.”
Detective Alvarez said, “Did Lily know?”
“She discovered it six weeks before her death.”
I looked at the funeral doors.
Rachel was somewhere outside those walls.
“She helped him steal from her?”
“We don’t know how much Rachel knew.”
I almost laughed.
“She came to Lily’s funeral holding his hand.”
Daniel nodded.
“That tells us something about her judgment. It doesn’t tell us what crimes she committed.”
There it was again.
Evidence.
Not rage.
I forced myself to breathe.
Then Priya opened a text archive.
The messages were between Jason and Rachel.
Most were ugly but predictable.
Missing you.
When are you leaving her?
Soon.
She’s pregnant.
I know.
Then one message stopped me.
Rachel: What happens when she finds out about Red Cedar?
Jason: She won’t.
Rachel: She checks everything now.
Jason: Then I’ll deal with it.
Rachel: How?
Jason: You don’t want to know.
Mom whispered, “Oh God.”
The message was dated twelve days before Lily died.
Another appeared three days later.
Rachel: I don’t want anyone hurt.
Jason: Then stop asking questions.
The office door suddenly opened.
A deputy stepped inside.
“Detective?”
Alvarez turned.
The deputy looked pale.
“You need to come outside.”
“What happened?”
“It’s Rachel Monroe.”
My stomach dropped.
“What about her?”
“She’s gone.”
Alvarez stood.
“What do you mean, gone?”
The deputy looked at all of us.
“Her car’s still here.”
May you like
He swallowed.
“But someone saw her get into Jason Reed’s truck ten minutes ago.”
