Chapter 5: What the Camera Saw

Walter froze the video.

Aaron’s face was clear, and so was the tool in his hand.

“He’s beside the brake line,” Grace said.

Lucy covered her mouth.

“He caused the crash.”

“Let it play,” I whispered.

The recording jumped ahead.

Ben came out of the cabin and caught Aaron standing beside the car.

“What are you doing?” Ben demanded on the video.

“Checking something Doyle asked me to check.”

“Step away from my car.”

Aaron raised both hands and moved aside.

Ben crouched down, but one of the boys called to him from the cabin.

The video ended as Ben walked inside.

Grace struck the table with her palm.

“Dad never saw what Aaron had done.”

Walter removed the memory card.

“We need someone outside Doyle’s department.”

“I know a state investigator named Mara Quinn,” Grace said.

“She handled a case at my office.”

Grace borrowed Walter’s phone and called her.

Mara listened without interrupting.

“Do not take that card to the local station,” she said.

“Make a digital copy and send it to this address.”

Lucy was already working at the laptop.

“Uploading now.”

Headlights appeared outside before the upload finished.

Walter reached for the curtain.

“Three patrol cars.”

Doyle’s voice boomed through a loudspeaker.

“Come outside with your hands visible.”

Mara spoke sharply through the phone.

“Do exactly what he says.

I’m recording this call, and I’m on my way.”

Lucy clicked the screen.

“The upload is at ninety-two percent.”

The shed door shook beneath a heavy blow.

“Ninety-six,” Lucy said.

Doyle shouted, “Open the door!”

“Ninety-nine.”

The door burst inward just as the upload reached one hundred percent.

Two officers pulled Walter aside.

Doyle took the laptop, and Aaron seized the memory card from Lucy.

“You broke into my office,” Aaron told her.

“I found the truth you buried.”

He turned to me.

“Your daughter is coming with us.”

“No.

If she goes, I go.”

At the station, they put Lucy and me in separate interview rooms.

Aaron entered mine carrying a written statement.

“Sign this, and Lucy goes home.”

I read the first line.

It said Walter had altered the video because of a personal grudge.

“You want me to call my husband a liar.”

“I want you to save your daughter.”

“You said you were protecting us.

You were protecting yourself.”

Aaron sat across from me.

“Doyle ordered me to frighten Ben.

I never intended for the car to leave the road.”

“But you touched the brake line.”

“I loosened it.

Doyle said Ben would notice before he drove.”

“You knew he had our sons with him.”

Aaron shoved the statement closer.

“Sign.”

“No.”

He leaned forward.

“Lucy entered a secured office and took confidential material.

Doyle can make that follow her for years.”

“You gave her the bear because you couldn’t bring yourself to destroy Ben’s note.”

His jaw tightened.

“You’ve been afraid of a little girl for five years,” I said.

The door opened, and Chief Doyle walked in with the damaged laptop.

“The drive has been wiped,” he said.

“The memory card is next.”

Aaron looked at him.

“She sent a copy.”

“To whom?”

I said nothing.

Doyle placed both hands on the table.

“You have four other daughters.

Think carefully before you force me to visit each one.”

The door opened again.

Mara Quinn entered with two state officers.

“You won’t be visiting anyone,” she said.

Doyle showed her a warrant.

“This evidence belongs to my department.”

Mara read the document and handed it back.

“For the next ten minutes, perhaps.”