Chapter 3 - The Missing Camera
Adrien moved through the mansion with the same controlled silence he used in the conference room.
I followed several steps behind.
He stopped outside the west staircase.
“This camera.”
He pointed upward.
“It covers the corridor.”
I looked.
The small black lens was dark.
“Was it working yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I cleaned beneath it.”
Adrien looked at me.
“You remember details.”
“I clean for a living. Details keep me employed.”
For the first time, the corner of his mouth almost moved.
Then the security chief arrived.
Marcus.
He was the lieutenant who had shifted when I mentioned Victor.
Adrien held up his phone.
“Why was the west camera offline yesterday?”
Marcus answered immediately.
“Routine maintenance.”
“When?”
“Three-thirty to five.”
Adrien looked at me.
“What time did you see Victor?”
“Four-thirty.”
Marcus became very still.
Adrien noticed.
“Who authorized the maintenance?”
Marcus hesitated.
“No one?”
Adrien stepped closer.
“You expect me to believe a security camera went offline by itself for exactly ninety minutes?”
Marcus said nothing.
Adrien dismissed him.
After he left, Adrien looked at me.
“You are not going back to the service corridor.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever erased that footage knows someone saw him.”
I wanted to argue.
Then my phone vibrated.
An unknown number had sent one message.
STOP REMEMBERING WHAT YOU SAW.
My hands went cold.
Adrien read my face.
“What happened?”
I showed him.
May you like
He didn't look surprised.
That frightened me more than the message.
