PART 4: THE CAMERA IN LILY’S ROOM
The moment the police officer mentioned the second device, my entire body went cold.
Lily was still holding my hand.
Her fingers were tiny.
Warm.
Shaking.
I looked down at her and suddenly felt something I had never experienced before.
Fear.
Not fear for myself.
Fear for my daughter.
“Where exactly did you find it?” I asked.
The officer glanced at Detective Carter before answering.
“Inside a smoke detector.”
Lily’s face went pale.
“A smoke detector?”
The officer nodded.
“It was modified. The device had been installed recently.”
I looked toward Richard.
He was standing between two officers.
His face was expressionless.
But his eyes weren't.
He looked terrified.
Detective Carter noticed.
“Mr. Hale, do you know anything about these devices?”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
“Do you know who installed them?”
“No.”
“Do you know Emily Brooks?”
Richard hesitated.
“No.”
I stepped forward.
“You're lying.”
Richard looked at me.
“I barely know her.”
“You knew her well enough to react when I said her name.”
He said nothing.
Detective Carter turned toward him.
“Mr. Hale, you should think carefully before answering another question.”
Richard lowered his eyes.
Then Patricia suddenly spoke.
“I know Emily.”
Everyone turned toward her.
My heart sank.
“How?”
Patricia wiped her tears.
“She used to work for Marcus.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
Patricia nodded.
“Before she became close to you.”
I felt dizzy.
Marcus had never told me that.
“How long?”
“About two years.”
I looked at David.
“Did you know?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
Patricia continued.
“Emily worked in the company's legal department.”
Richard immediately said:
“That's irrelevant.”
Detective Carter turned toward him.
“Why?”
Richard didn't answer.
I looked at Patricia.
“Why did Marcus fire her?”
Patricia's eyes moved toward Richard.
“He didn't.”
A terrible silence filled the church.
“What do you mean?”
Patricia whispered:
“She left voluntarily.”
“Why?”
“She discovered something.”
My heart began pounding.
“What?”
Patricia shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Richard suddenly interrupted.
“Mom, stop.”
Patricia looked at him.
“I've lied enough.”
Richard's face hardened.
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“I know more than you think.”
The detective stepped between them.
“Mrs. Hale—”
Patricia corrected herself.
“Patricia.”
“Patricia, what did Emily discover?”
Patricia looked at me.
“She discovered that someone had been creating fake contracts.”
My blood ran cold.
“Contracts for what?”
“Company acquisitions.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Patricia continued.
“Marcus thought someone was trying to take control of his company.”
I remembered the nights Marcus had spent in his office.
The locked drawers.
The passwords.
The calls.
The strange tension whenever Richard visited.
Everything suddenly made sense.
But one question remained.
“Why would Emily be involved?”
Patricia looked at me.
“Because she wasn't the one who created the contracts.”
She paused.
“She was the one who discovered them.”
I frowned.
“Then why would Marcus be afraid of her?”
Patricia didn't answer.
Detective Carter's phone rang.
He stepped away.
A few seconds later, his expression changed.
“Understood.”
He ended the call.
“We found the devices.”
David asked:
“And?”
Carter looked at me.
“They've been transmitting.”
My stomach dropped.
“To whom?”
“We're still tracing the signal.”
Lily suddenly whispered:
“Mom.”
I turned.
She was staring at the smartwatch.
The screen had lit up by itself.
A new notification appeared.
RECORDING 04 AVAILABLE.
My heart stopped.
“Dad left another recording.”
Detective Carter took the watch carefully.
“Don't touch anything.”
He examined the screen.
Then he looked at me.
“Mrs. Hale, did you know this watch could remotely activate recordings?”
“No.”
“Marcus apparently did.”
He pressed the screen.
A familiar voice filled the room.
“Claire.”
I nearly collapsed.
“If you're listening to this one, then you found the cameras.”
I looked at Lily.
Marcus continued.
“I'm sorry.”
His voice trembled.
“I should have told you earlier.”
There was a pause.
“Emily is not the person you should be afraid of.”
Everyone froze.
Richard slowly raised his head.
Marcus continued:
“She has been trying to protect you.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
I whispered the word without realizing it.
Marcus's voice continued.
“Emily discovered the financial fraud before I did.”
Richard's face went pale.
“She contacted me.”
A long pause.
“She warned me about Richard.”
Richard suddenly shouted:
“That's a lie!”
The recording continued as if he hadn't spoken.
“Richard found out that Emily had contacted me.”
My hand covered my mouth.
“He threatened her.”
Patricia began crying.
Marcus continued:
“He told her that if she went to the police, Claire and Lily would suffer.”
The church fell completely silent.
I looked at Richard.
He was no longer pretending to be innocent.
His breathing became heavy.
Detective Carter stepped toward him.
“Richard.”
Richard backed away.
“Don't.”
“Step away from the officers.”
“No.”
“Now.”
Richard suddenly ran.
He pushed one of the officers aside and sprinted toward the side door.
The officer chased him.
The church erupted in chaos.
People screamed.
Chairs fell.
Lily grabbed my waist.
I held her tightly.
Then Marcus's recording continued.
“Claire, there is one more thing.”
The chaos around me seemed to disappear.
“You need to know why the accident happened.”
I stopped breathing.
Marcus said:
“It wasn't supposed to happen to me.”
My eyes widened.
“What?”
“It was supposed to happen to someone else.”
Detective Carter stopped moving.
David stared at the speaker.
Marcus continued:
“The car was tampered with.”
A gasp echoed through the church.
“I found evidence that someone had changed the brake system.”
My knees weakened.
“The target wasn't me.”
A long pause.
“The target was Lily.”
I screamed.
“No!”
Lily buried her face against me.
Marcus's voice continued:
“I discovered the plan two days before the accident.”
My entire body shook.
“I changed the route that morning.”
A terrible silence followed.
“I thought I had protected my daughter.”
His voice broke.
“But someone followed us.”
I could barely breathe.
“Claire, if you're hearing this…”
A pause.
“I'm sorry.”
Then Marcus said the words that would haunt me forever:
“The person who ordered the attack is someone Lily calls family.”
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
Detective Carter looked at me.
“Mrs. Hale…”
I looked at Lily.
Then at Patricia.
Then at Richard, who was being dragged back into the church by two officers.
But suddenly, another possibility entered my mind.
There was someone else Lily called family.
Someone who wasn't related to Marcus by blood.
Someone who had been present at our home.
Someone who had access to our car.
Someone who had known Marcus's schedule.
And someone who had been standing beside me at the funeral.
I slowly turned around.
My eyes met hers.
Emily.
She was standing near the back of the church.
Crying.
But when our eyes met…
she didn't look surprised.
She looked terrified.
And then she whispered something only I could hear.
“Claire…”
Her lips trembled.
“Marcus wasn't trying to protect Lily from Richard.”
She looked toward the police.
“He was trying to protect her from me.”
My blood froze.
Before I could respond, Emily turned and ran through the church doors.
And Detective Carter shouted:
“STOP HER!”
