Chapter 3 - Lily Remembers Two Earlier Tests
Lily slept in Michael’s room that night.
Rebecca left the mansion with her attorney after police interviewed her.
She was not permitted to contact Lily.
Michael did not sleep.
At 2:00 a.m., Daniel brought him a report.
The camera had connected to the same private server as two other devices.
One had been active in Lily’s upstairs playroom.
The other had briefly connected from the garage.
Neither camera was currently present.
Michael felt sick.
Someone had been watching his daughter in multiple rooms.
The next morning, a child interviewer asked Lily whether she remembered other cameras.
She did.
Rebecca had told her they were part of a “surprise movie” for Michael.
The first test happened in the playroom.
Lily had been told to cry.
The second happened near Michael’s car.
Lily was told to stand beside the open passenger door and repeat:
“Daddy forgot me again.”
Michael’s stomach tightened.
He had never forgotten Lily in a car.
Not once.
Why would someone want footage suggesting he had?
Daniel recovered fragments of deleted network traffic.
The playroom camera had uploaded twelve minutes of video.
The garage camera uploaded seven.
The living-room camera had streamed nearly thirty minutes before police disconnected it.
Someone was building a collection.
Michael called his attorney, Rachel Morgan.
She asked one question.
“Is there any pending custody dispute?”
“No.”
“Any guardianship issue?”
“No.”
“Any trust involving Lily?”
Michael hesitated.
“Yes.”
Lily’s mother, Sarah Bennett, had died four years earlier.
She left Lily a trust worth approximately thirty-two million dollars.
Michael served as primary guardian.
But he did not control the trust alone.
An independent trustee approved major distributions.
Rachel asked who would become Lily’s guardian if Michael were removed.
Michael opened the estate documents.
First alternate guardian:
His sister, Caroline Reed.
Second:
Rebecca Hayes.
Michael stared.
Rebecca had been added eighteen months earlier when Michael became engaged to her.
He had forgotten the amendment.
Rachel read farther.
If Michael were found unfit and Caroline unavailable, Rebecca could seek temporary physical guardianship.
Still, she would not automatically control Lily’s money.
So why manufacture evidence against Michael?
Daniel entered with another discovery.
The private camera server had been paid for using a corporate card.
The card belonged to Bennett Family Holdings.
Sarah’s family company.
May you like
Michael looked up.
Someone from his dead wife’s family had paid to watch Lily.
