Chapter 6 - THE VIDEO WITHOUT SOUND
The video showed Jonathan’s bedroom on the night he died.
Elena stood beside the bed.
Jonathan lay motionless beneath the blankets.
She held a glass in one hand.
With the other, she touched his face.
Then she poured the contents of the glass into the bathroom sink.
The recording ended.
Victoria’s voice returned.
“She destroyed the poison before anyone arrived.”
Elena could barely breathe.
She remembered the glass.
Jonathan had asked for water.
He drank one sip and complained that it tasted bitter.
When his body began convulsing, Elena emptied the glass because she feared he had accidentally taken the wrong medication.
She had not understood she was destroying evidence.
Victoria understood exactly how the silent footage would look.
Arthur pointed toward Elena.
“She had the means.”
“She had access.”
“She inherited the estate.”
Aaron entered the boardroom.
“And she called emergency services within thirty seconds.”
He placed a transcript on the table.
“The original recording includes audio.”
Victoria’s face changed on the screen.
Aaron played the full file.
Jonathan’s voice emerged weakly.
“Elena, the water tastes wrong.”
Then came Elena’s panic.
“Jonathan?”
“Can you hear me?”
She called for help.
She shouted for Victoria.
She begged Jonathan to breathe.
In the background, a door opened.
Victoria’s voice spoke quietly.
“Empty the glass before the ambulance arrives.”
Elena looked toward the screen.
She had forgotten that instruction.
She had been too frightened to question it.
Victoria had told her the glass might contain residue from Jonathan’s heart medicine.
Elena obeyed.
Aaron paused the recording.
“She manipulated the crime scene.”
Victoria recovered quickly.
“The audio was altered.”
“The original file came from your private security server.”
Aaron looked toward the board.
“We also recovered access logs.”
“Victoria downloaded the recording the morning after Jonathan died.”
“She kept it for eleven years.”
A director named Marjorie Kane stood.
“Why would she preserve evidence of her brother’s death?”
Elena answered.
“Because she planned to use it against me if I ever discovered the truth.”
The boardroom doors opened.
Peter Shaw entered in a wheelchair.
His chest was bandaged beneath his shirt.
His wife pushed him toward the table.
Peter placed a written statement before the directors.
“Victoria ordered me to remove Jonathan’s water pitcher.”
“She told me Elena had poisoned it.”
“I believed her.”
“What did you do with it?” Aaron asked.
Peter looked ashamed.
“I placed it in the estate incinerator.”
Victoria’s image froze for half a second.
The signal weakened.
Then she spoke.
“Peter is a thief and a coward.”
Peter looked toward the screen.
“Yes.”
“I took your money.”
“I disabled the cameras.”
“But I will not help you murder another person.”
He removed a second brass key from his pocket.
“This belonged to Jonathan.”
“The locket is not the second authorization.”
Victoria became completely still.
Elena stared at him.
“What is?”
Peter pointed toward Jonathan’s letter.
“His signature.”
A pressure-sensitive strip had been embedded beneath the final line.
The paper itself was the second key.
Victoria had stolen the locket because she believed it contained access.
Jonathan had anticipated that.
Elena looked toward Aaron.
“The vault.”
They left the boardroom immediately.
On the screen behind them, Victoria’s expression changed from confidence to panic.
She shouted at Arthur.
“Stop them.”
May you like
Arthur reached beneath the table.
He pulled out a gun.
