Chapter 9 - The Man Behind the Cameras
Owen’s footprints disappeared into the forest.
Gabriel’s continued toward an access road beyond the ridge.
Detective Ruiz sent officers to establish a wider perimeter, but darkness was approaching.
Fresh snow began covering the tracks.
Eleanor was transported to a hospital under police guard.
Victor remained in custody.
Arthur took Leo and Toby back to the estate, where Mrs. Finch and a pediatric physician examined them.
The boys were shaken but physically unharmed.
Clara remained beside them until they fell asleep.
Arthur stood in the doorway, watching her tuck the blanket around Toby’s shoulders.
“You should rest,” she said without turning.
“So should you.”
“I am not the one who nearly drowned saving the woman who destroyed his family.”
Arthur leaned against the doorframe.
“I did not save her because she deserved it.”
“I know.”
“She is still my mother.”
“I know that too.”
Arthur looked at his sleeping sons.
“I keep asking myself how I failed to see any of this.”
Clara turned.
“People like Eleanor do not control families by appearing cruel every moment.”
“They control them by deciding when to be kind.”
“They make everyone spend years chasing that kindness.”
Arthur considered her words.
“You understand her better than I do.”
“I grew up with someone like her.”
“Your mother?”
“My stepfather.”
Clara lowered her eyes.
“He could make a room feel warm one minute and dangerous the next.”
“My mother hired me young because I was used to silence.”
Arthur felt ashamed.
“Eleanor knew that?”
“She knows every weakness in everyone around her.”
Detective Ruiz entered the room.
“We found something.”
They moved to the study.
Ruiz placed a folder on the desk.
“Owen Price was not originally hired by the Vance estate.”
“Gabriel arranged his employment nine years ago.”
Arthur frowned.
“My mother said she selected him.”
“She signed the papers.”
“Gabriel created the recommendation.”
Ruiz opened the folder.
“Owen served with a private security company that handled corporate surveillance.”
“His unit was investigated for illegal monitoring and evidence destruction.”
“Charges were never filed.”
“He was Gabriel’s man.”
Clara looked toward the ceiling camera.
“He controlled what the house could see.”
“And what it could forget,” Ruiz said.
Arthur thought of the missing twelve minutes.
“The message printed in the security room came from him.”
“Most likely.”
“The nursery fire?”
“We found his access card near the electrical panel.”
Clara’s face tightened.
“He tried to kill the boys.”
Ruiz shook her head.
“We cannot prove intent.”
“The fire may have been designed as a distraction while the backup server was destroyed.”
“That does not make it better,” Arthur said.
“No.”
“It makes him reckless.”
Ruiz’s phone buzzed.
She listened to a message.
“They found Owen’s vehicle near the southern highway.”
“Gabriel?”
“No sign of him.”
“Where would he go?”
Arthur walked toward the wall map of family properties.
Gabriel had always preferred places that made him feel important.
Private clubs.
Luxury hotels.
Corporate apartments.
Then Arthur remembered Evelyn’s journal.
Blackridge Holdings.
“Blackridge,” he said.
“What is it?” Ruiz asked.
“The name of the shell company.”
“It may also refer to Blackridge Mine.”
Clara looked at him.
“The abandoned Vance property?”
Arthur nodded.
His grandfather had acquired the mine decades earlier.
Operations ended after a collapse killed six workers.
The property had been sealed and forgotten.
“Gabriel used to go there as a teenager.”
Ruiz called tactical units.
Arthur reached for his coat.
“You are not coming,” she said.
“He has hidden records there.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Gabriel would never use a company name without making it meaningful to himself.”
Ruiz studied him.
“Stay behind my officers.”
They reached Blackridge Mine shortly after midnight.
The main building was dark.
Snow covered the rusted machinery.
A single light glowed inside the abandoned administrative office.
Police surrounded the structure.
Ruiz entered first.
Arthur and Clara followed after the building was cleared.
The office contained computers, filing cabinets, and stacks of financial records.
Gabriel had used the abandoned mine as an archive.
On one monitor, a live security feed displayed the Vance estate.
Arthur’s bedroom.
The children’s playroom.
Clara’s garden cottage.
Someone had been watching them.
Clara stepped back in horror.
Arthur opened a drawer and found dozens of labeled recordings.
EVELYN—PRIVATE.
ARTHUR—BOARDROOM.
CLARA—NURSERY.
ELEANOR—MEDICATION.
Ruiz examined the files.
“This is leverage.”
Arthur picked up Eleanor’s folder.
“Owen recorded everyone.”
“And Gabriel controlled Owen,” Clara said.
A sound came from the rear hallway.
Officers raised their weapons.
Owen appeared in the doorway.
His bandaged hands were stained with blood.
He collapsed before reaching them.
Ruiz knelt beside him.
“Where is Gabriel?”
Owen struggled to breathe.
“Gone.”
“Where?”
“He took the tunnel.”
“What tunnel?”
Owen pointed weakly toward the mine entrance.
“Old rail line.”
“Leads east.”
Arthur crouched near him.
“Why did you come back?”
Owen’s eyes found his.
“Because I was never supposed to hurt the boys.”
“You locked them inside a fire.”
“I thought the sprinklers would activate sooner.”
Clara’s expression filled with disgust.
“Toby could have died.”
“I know.”
Owen began to cry.
“Gabriel said it would scare everyone away from the servers.”
“Then he took the boys.”
“That was Eleanor.”
Owen coughed.
“She thought she could force you to destroy the card.”
“Where is Gabriel going?”
Arthur demanded.
Owen’s eyelids fluttered.
“To finish what Evelyn started.”
“What does that mean?”
“He has one more recording.”
“Of what?”
May you like
Owen’s eyes closed.
“Your mother confessing.”
