Chapter 9 - THE RECORDING FROM THE CLIFF ROAD

Technicians recovered a second greenhouse recording.

Evelyn had hidden the camera inside a temperature sensor.

The footage began thirty minutes after the first video ended.

Evelyn stood near the rear door.

Richard held her ledger.

Camille blocked the path.

“You are going to resign,” Camille said.

“You will tell Iris you found work in another state.”

“You will leave the copies here.”

Evelyn looked at her.

“You believe employment makes ownership possible.”

Camille’s face hardened.

“I believe people should remember who protects them.”

“You are threatening my son’s medical care.”

“I am explaining what disloyalty costs.”

Richard struck Evelyn across the face.

She fell against a metal table.

Camille gasped.

Not because Evelyn was hurt.

Because blood had marked the floor.

“She cannot leave looking like that.”

Richard called Ocean Crest Security.

“Use the coastal road.”

“Make it look like weather.”

The recording captured everything.

Evelyn was alive when they removed her.

A former security manager accepted immunity.

He admitted cutting the brake line.

He placed Evelyn, partially conscious, behind the wheel.

He sent the car toward the cliff during heavy rain.

Her last words were:

“Tell Iris the ledger is real.”

Iris listened once.

Then she left the room.

Gabriel found her outside the hospital with Owen.

Neither spoke for a long time.

Finally, Owen asked:

“Did Gabriel know?”

Iris answered honestly.

“No.”

“Should he have known more?”

“Yes.”

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Gabriel did not defend himself.

Silence was the only respectful response.