Chapter 2 - Ethan Shows Daniel The Recording
Daniel pressed play again.
The video began before Emily fell.
Margaret stood in the kitchen gripping the broom, her face tight with anger.
“You had no right to open that envelope.”
Emily backed away.
“It was addressed to Daniel.”
“You don’t understand what you found.”
Then Margaret swung the broom.
The recording shook as Ethan gasped behind the doorway.
Daniel stopped the video.
Margaret’s face had gone white.
“You lied to me.”
“I panicked.”
“You hit my wife and called her the attacker.”
Margaret looked toward Ethan.
“You shouldn’t have been recording adults.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“Do not blame my son for preserving what happened.”
Emily sat at the kitchen table while Daniel called for medical help. Her shoulder was badly bruised, but nothing appeared broken.
Ethan stayed beside her.
Daniel crouched.
“Why were you recording before the argument started?”
Ethan hesitated.
“Because Grandma was in your office.”
Daniel frowned.
“When?”
“Before Mom came downstairs.”
Ethan had been filming a school video about their dog when he saw Margaret leave Daniel’s study carrying a yellow envelope.
He followed because Margaret had told him never to mention that she had been there.
That frightened him.
So he kept recording.
Daniel scrolled backward.
The earlier footage showed Margaret entering the kitchen.
She opened the envelope.
Inside were bank statements and a photograph.
Emily entered moments later.
Margaret tried to hide everything.
Then Ethan’s camera briefly captured the photograph.
Daniel enlarged the frame.
His breath caught.
The picture showed Margaret standing beside a man Daniel recognized immediately.
His father, Charles Whitmore.
But the photograph had been taken only three months earlier.
Charles had supposedly been dead for seven years.
Daniel stared at his mother.
“Who is that?”
Margaret said nothing.
Ethan whispered:
“Dad, there’s another video.”
The second recording showed Margaret making a phone call from Daniel’s study.
Her words were clear.
May you like
“Charles, Emily found the account. You need to leave tonight.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
