Chapter 5 - THE ELEVEN SECONDS
Elena spent the next thirty-six hours under observation.
The contractions slowed.
Her body temperature returned to normal.
The baby's heartbeat remained strong.
Every reassuring sound from the fetal monitor felt like a second chance.
But Elena could not sleep.
Whenever she closed her eyes, she felt freezing water striking her face.
She heard Diego telling her to stop being dramatic.
She saw Brenna carrying the bag.
On the second afternoon, Claire entered with Aaron Blake.
Elena sat higher in the hospital bed.
“You found something.”
Aaron told her about Marisol.
He did not soften the details.
When he finished, Elena stared at her hands.
“She knew he was married.”
“Yes.”
“She helped him open the company.”
“Yes.”
“And now she is scared.”
“Very.”
Elena looked toward Claire.
“Can we trust her?”
“No.”
Claire's answer was immediate.
“But we may be able to use the truth she is afraid of.”
Alvin entered carrying a tablet.
“There is another problem.”
He played the eleven-second gap from the mudroom camera.
Black screen.
No sound.
Then Brenna reappeared.
“The system records administrator access.”
Elena looked up.
“So we know who deleted it?”
“The command came from an account belonging to Thomas Reed.”
Elena frowned.
“Your security director?”
Alvin nodded.
Thomas had worked for Sterling Security for nine years.
He had supervised executive protection.
He had attended Elena's wedding.
He had helped install the mountain retreat security system.
“Where is he?”
“Missing.”
Elena's pulse accelerated.
“Since when?”
“He did not report to work this morning.”
Claire opened another file.
“His company phone is off.”
“His apartment is empty.”
“And yesterday, fifty thousand dollars appeared in an account belonging to his sister.”
Elena stared at them.
“From Diego?”
“We don't know yet.”
Aaron leaned against the wall.
“There is more.”
He placed three photographs on the bed.
Thomas entering a restaurant.
Thomas meeting Brenna.
Thomas leaving with an envelope.
The images had been taken two weeks earlier.
Elena looked at her father.
“You really were investigating them.”
Alvin did not defend himself.
“I was.”
“How long?”
“Four months.”
“Why?”
Alvin sat down.
“Because money began disappearing from a development project Diego had access to.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
She looked at him.
“I defended him to you.”
“You let me defend him while you already knew something was wrong.”
“I knew he was dishonest.”
“I did not know he was dangerous.”
Elena's voice broke.
“Neither did I.”
Alvin looked devastated.
She had rarely seen guilt on her father's face.
Claire quietly gathered the photographs.
“We need Thomas.”
Elena stared at the image of him meeting Brenna.
“What was in the eleven seconds?”
Nobody answered.
That night, a technician recovered damaged metadata from the camera.
The video itself could not be restored.
The audio could.
At 7:18 p.m., Claire played it for Elena.
There was rustling.
A cabinet opening.
Then Brenna's voice.
“Take page fourteen.”
Another voice responded.
A man's voice.
It was not Diego.
“I thought you wanted the whole agreement gone.”
Brenna answered sharply.
“No.”
“If everything disappears, they know we planned it.”
“Take only the page that proves what happens after Elena can't make decisions.”
There was a pause.
May you like
Then the unknown man asked a question that changed everything.
“And what about the medication?”
