Chapter 5 - The Missing Seven Minutes
The security team discovered the problem before midnight.
One camera had stopped recording for exactly seven minutes.
Not an accident.
Someone had manually interrupted it.
Luca watched the footage before and after the gap.
At 9:14, the west corridor was empty.
At 9:22, a man in a gray jacket appeared.
Emma recognized him immediately.
“That’s him.”
Luca froze the image.
The man's face was partially visible.
Teresa whispered:
“Gideon Shaw.”
Emma looked between them.
“Who is he?”
“A former security contractor,” Luca answered.
“Former?”
“Yes.”
“Why was he here?”
Luca didn't answer.
Emma studied the screen.
Then she noticed something.
“Wait.”
She pointed.
At 9:13, just before the camera went dark, a housekeeper's cart appeared.
“My cart.”
Luca looked at her.
“That isn't possible.”
“I use that cart every evening.”
“Did you leave it there?”
“No.”
Emma stepped closer.
“The cart was moved.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the wheels squeak.”
Teresa raised an eyebrow.
Emma continued.
“When I push it, the left wheel squeaks twice every time it turns.”
Luca looked at the footage.
The cart moved silently.
“That isn't your cart.”
Emma stared.
“It looks exactly like mine.”
Luca's expression hardened.
Someone had created a duplicate.
A fake cleaning cart.
And someone had used it to enter a restricted corridor without attracting attention.
Emma slowly understood.
“They wanted people to think it was me.”
Luca nodded.
“That is what worries me.”
Emma looked at him.
“Then someone isn't just stealing information.”
“What are they doing?”
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“They're building a story.”
A story in which every suspicious movement inside the house could be blamed on a maid.
