Chapter 2 - The Missing Camera and a Missing Memory
The silence inside the grand foyer stretched taut, broken only by the ragged sound of Arthur’s shallow breathing on the cold marble floor.
Ethan stared intently at the small, empty socket high on the wall where the high-definition dome security camera should have been mounted.
Fresh plaster dust lingered around the exposed wires, proving the device had been ripped out mere minutes before his father’s catastrophic fall.
Jessica backed toward the heavy mahogany doors, her fingers shaking as she clutched the bruised skin where Ethan had struck her.
"I didn't take the camera, Ethan, I swear on my life I didn't!" Jessica gasped, her voice trembling with rising hysteria.
Ethan didn't yell; he stood up slowly, his body casting a long, dark shadow across the polished floor under the crystal chandelier.
"My father just told me there was someone else on those stairs with you," Ethan said, his tone carrying an icy, lethal precision.
He took three slow, deliberate steps toward her, blocking the main entrance completely while keeping his gaze locked on her terrified face.
"Who was standing in the shadows behind you, Jessica?" Ethan demanded, his voice dropping into a dangerous whisper that echoed off the high ceiling.
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Before Jessica could answer, the sharp, wailing sirens of an incoming ambulance began to pierce the quiet night outside the estate gates.
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