Chapter 8 - THE BACKUP CAMERA
Nora sat down slowly.
“My grandmother worked for the Roberson family?”
Evelyn stared at her.
“You never told me your grandmother’s name.”
“You never asked.”
Nora looked shaken.
“She died when I was seventeen.”
Evelyn moved closer.
“Was she from Arizona?”
“Yes.”
“Phoenix?”
Nora nodded.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
“Oh, my God.”
Gavin looked between them.
“You knew her?”
“She worked for us for eight years.”
Nora stared.
“My grandmother never talked about rich families.”
Evelyn almost smiled through tears.
“That sounds like Rosa.”
“She raised me for part of my childhood.”
Nora’s voice softened.
“She used to say other people’s secrets could burn down your own house if you carried them too long.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“That sounds like her too.”
Gavin looked at Charles.
“How do you know William gave her the ledger?”
Charles’s expression remained guarded.
“I heard him mention Rosa.”
“When?”
“Two days before he died.”
Gavin stared.
“You keep remembering useful details twelve years late.”
Charles ignored the insult.
“He said he had put something where none of us would ever look.”
Nora looked down.
“My grandmother left me a box.”
Everyone turned toward her.
“What box?” Gavin asked.
“Old photographs.”
“Anything else?”
“A recipe book.”
Charles laughed once.
Nora glared at him.
“And a brass key.”
The senator stopped laughing.
Gavin noticed.
“What kind of key?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is it?”
“In storage.”
“Where?”
“My apartment.”
Priscilla stood.
“Dad.”
Charles ignored her.
He looked at his chief of staff.
“Call the car.”
Gavin stepped forward.
“No.”
Charles stared at him.
“You have no authority over me.”
“You’re not going to Nora’s apartment.”
Charles smiled thinly.
“I have no interest in her apartment.”
Nora spoke quietly.
“You looked interested when I mentioned the key.”
Charles’s expression hardened.
Gavin almost smiled.
The invisible cleaning lady was becoming very visible.
Then Eric, the security chief, entered.
“Mr. Roberson.”
“What?”
“We found something.”
Eric carried a tablet.
He placed it on the desk.
“Your main security server shows no unusual activity.”
Marcus exhaled.
Eric continued.
“But the service corridor camera has a local backup.”
Priscilla’s face changed.
Gavin looked at her.
“Play it.”
The footage began.
10:04 p.m.
Nora entered the kitchen.
Taylor sat coloring.
10:09.
Taylor wandered into the hall.
10:11.
Priscilla appeared.
She looked around.
Then entered Gavin’s office.
10:13.
Priscilla exited.
She removed something blue from her clutch.
Used the key.
Reentered the office.
10:16.
Marcus appeared.
They spoke.
No audio.
10:17.
Marcus hid the flash drive in the planter.
10:18.
Priscilla locked the office door.
From the outside.
Evelyn had already been inside.
The room went silent.
Gavin paused the footage.
The image showed Priscilla’s hand on the lock.
He looked at her.
“You locked my mother inside.”
Priscilla didn’t deny it.
“Why?”
“She was going to ruin everything.”
“The merger?”
Priscilla shook her head.
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“My father.”
Charles turned.
“Priscilla.”
She looked at him.
“You told me to keep her away from Gavin.”
Charles’s jaw tightened.
“You are upset.”
“You told me she was unstable.”
“She is emotionally compromised.”
Priscilla laughed.
For the first time all night, it sounded real.
“You’ve called every woman who disobeyed you unstable.”
Charles’s eyes darkened.
“Enough.”
“No.”
Priscilla stood straighter.
“You told me if Gavin saw those files, you would lose everything.”
Charles stepped toward her.
Gavin moved between them.
“Stay where you are.”
Charles looked at him.
“You do not understand my daughter.”
“No.”
Gavin glanced at Priscilla.
“I’m starting to.”
Priscilla looked shaken by that.
Not relieved.
Not grateful.
Ashamed.
She whispered—
“I knew about the merger.”
Gavin said nothing.
“I knew about the forged messages.”
Evelyn stared at her.
Priscilla continued.
“I knew we were trying to isolate you from your mother.”
Her voice broke.
“But I did not know about William’s accident.”
Gavin watched her carefully.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
She wiped at one eye angrily.
“I don’t expect you to believe anything I say.”
Charles scoffed.
“At least you finally understand something.”
Priscilla looked at her father.
Then something in her changed.
She reached into her dress.
Pulled out a second phone.
Charles went pale.
Gavin stared.
Priscilla placed it on the table.
“My father doesn’t know I kept this.”
Charles moved.
Eric blocked him.
“What is it?” Gavin asked.
Priscilla looked at him.
“A backup.”
“Of what?”
“Every instruction he gave me about you.”
Charles’s attorney shouted—
“Senator, do not speak.”
Priscilla unlocked the phone.
Hundreds of messages appeared.
Gavin scrolled.
Then stopped.
One dated six months earlier.
CHARLES: EVELYN MUST LOOK UNSTABLE BEFORE GAVIN CUTS HER OFF.
Another.
CHARLES: USE THE BENNETT LEAK.
Another.
CHARLES: MARCUS HAS THE FILES.
Then one from three weeks earlier.
CHARLES: IF ROSA BELL’S FAMILY EVER APPEARS, TELL ME IMMEDIATELY.
Gavin slowly looked at Nora.
Nora stared at the message.
Her skin went cold.
Charles Ashford had known her grandmother’s name.
May you like
And somehow, before tonight—
He had known her family might return.
