Chapter 7 - THE CAMERA ACROSS THE STREET
Mark Alvarez had three cameras around his property.
One pointed toward his driveway.
That camera also captured part of my front yard.
He invited Katherine and me into his kitchen.
His wife, Elena, looked as though she hadn't slept.
"We should have called someone sooner."
She said.
I didn't know what she meant.
Mark opened footage from six weeks earlier.
Brad's truck entered my driveway at 11:42 p.m.
He carried two suitcases into my house.
Rachel kissed him on the porch.
Six weeks earlier.
Long before she claimed I died.
Another clip.
Brad walking Lily toward his truck.
Lily pulling away.
Rachel standing on the porch.
Another.
Lily sitting alone on the front steps after dark.
Another.
Buster barking through the window while Brad shouted at him.
My fists closed.
Mark paused the video.
"There's more."
He opened footage from nineteen days earlier.
The day Rachel announced my death.
People arrived with flowers.
Neighbors hugged her.
Someone delivered food.
Then at 9:16 that night, after everyone left, Brad arrived carrying champagne.
Rachel ran out to meet him.
They kissed beside my mailbox.
Elena looked down.
"I saw them."
She whispered.
"I convinced myself there had to be an explanation."
I couldn't blame her.
Normal people don't expect a woman to invent her deployed husband's death.
Mark opened footage from four nights before my return.
Lily stood near the property line in pajamas.
Buster beside her.
She appeared to be crying.
Elena walked outside.
The camera captured her bringing Lily a blanket.
Then Rachel stormed across the yard.
Even without audio, her anger was obvious.
She snatched the blanket away.
She pulled Lily toward the house.
Elena started crying as she watched the screen.
"She told me Lily had sleepwalking problems."
I stared at the image.
My daughter had tried to reach the neighbors.
Rachel had brought her back.
Mark opened the final clip.
It was from the night I came home.
Brad dragged Buster outside by the collar.
Then Lily appeared.
Melissa followed them to the doorway with her phone raised.
Brad pointed toward the shed.
Lily refused to move.
Rachel stepped behind her.
And pushed the door closed.
Mark froze the frame.
My wife stood behind the glass.
Watching.
I felt sick.
Katherine touched my shoulder.
"There's something else."
Mark nodded.
"Three days after Rachel said you died, a man came to your house carrying a briefcase."
He pulled up the video.
The image wasn't perfect.
But the man's face was visible.
I had never seen him.
He stayed inside for forty minutes.
When he left, Rachel walked him to the car.
Katherine zoomed in on the vehicle.
There was a company logo on the door.
Her expression changed.
"What?"
I asked.
May you like
She looked at me.
"That's an insurance brokerage."
