Chapter 2: The Second Camera
The room fell silent.
No one moved.
The syringe rested against Leo's worn teddy bear as if it had been waiting for someone to notice it.
Beatrice recovered first.
"That's ridiculous," she snapped. "She's trying to distract us."
She pointed toward Mara.
"Search her pockets."
The housekeeper slowly reached inside her apron and placed three items on the blanket.
Leo's prescription bottle.
A pair of latex gloves.
A small evidence bag.
"I took the medicine because the seal was broken," Mara said calmly. "Someone had already opened it."
Olivia stared at the bottle.
The safety ring had indeed been sliced with something sharp.
Not twisted.
Cut.
Her mother immediately laughed.
"So now you're an investigator?"
"No," Mara answered. "I survived people like this."
She looked directly at Olivia.
"You hired me because of my record."
Olivia nodded.
Seven years earlier, Mara had been convicted of stealing narcotics from a private clinic.
Every newspaper had called her a monster.
What none of them printed was that she had stolen the drugs for children whose insurance had been denied.
She never defended herself.
She accepted prison.
And when she was released, no one would hire her.
Except Olivia.
Beatrice folded her arms.
"This is insane."
Olivia quietly picked up her phone.
"I'm going downstairs."
She opened an encrypted application.
Unlike the nursery camera everyone knew about...
this one had never been connected to the family security system.
It uploaded directly to a private cloud.
Only Olivia had the password.
She scrolled backward.
2:06 a.m.
2:09.
Then—
2:11.
A shadow entered Leo's room.
Not Mara.
Her sister-in-law, Claire.
Claire carefully removed the medicine bottle from the nightstand.
She peeled away the original label.
Applied another.
Then reached into her purse.
A syringe.
Clear liquid.
She injected the bottle.
Exactly thirty-eight seconds later...
she returned everything to its place and quietly walked away.
At 2:13...
Mara entered.
She noticed the damaged seal.
She took the bottle.
Not to steal it.
To stop Leo from swallowing it.
Olivia slowly lowered the phone.
Her hands were shaking.
May you like
The nightmare had never been outside the house.
It had been eating breakfast with them every morning.
