Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE CAMERAThe alarms screamed so loudly that Lily buried her face against Rory’s chest.
Rose covered her ears again.
Rory moved immediately.
“Stay behind me.”
His voice was calm, but I could see the tension in his jaw.
He carried Lily with one arm and pulled Rose close with the other.
I followed them toward the nursery door.
Then the hallway lights went dark.
For three seconds, the entire mansion disappeared into blackness.
A gunshot cracked somewhere downstairs.
Rose screamed.
Rory turned toward the sound.
“Stay here.”
“No,” I whispered.
He looked at me.
I held up the tiny black device I had picked up after he crushed it.
The red light was gone, but a small blue indicator had appeared along its edge.
“It’s still transmitting something.”
Rory stared at it.
Then he looked toward the security camera above the nursery.
“Come with me.”
We stepped into the hallway.
The emergency lights flickered red across the walls.
Two guards appeared at the end of the corridor, weapons raised.
“Mr. Starks!”
“Where?”
“West entrance. Motion sensors triggered.”
Rory's expression hardened.
“Lock the west wing.”
One guard hesitated.
“We already did.”
“Then why did someone just enter it?”
The guard's face went pale.
Before he could answer, the mansion doors slammed shut downstairs.
Every lock engaged simultaneously.
I felt cold spread through my chest.
Someone wasn't trying to get in.
Someone was already inside.
Rory handed Lily to one of the guards.
“Take the girls to the panic room.”
“No!” Lily cried.
Rory crouched in front of her.
“Daddy has to check something.”
“You said you'd stay.”
The words hit him harder than the alarms.
Rory touched her cheek.
“I will.”
He looked at me.
“Take Rose.”
I nodded.
The guard led us toward the private hallway.
Halfway there, Rose stopped.
She pointed toward the nursery.
“The bear.”
“What about it?”
Her lower lip trembled.
“Mommy's picture is inside.”
Rory froze.
I looked at the destroyed teddy bear lying on the nursery carpet.
“Your mother's picture?”
Rose nodded.
“Mommy put it there.”
Rory walked back.
He dropped to his knees beside the bear.
His hands moved through the stuffing.
Then he found something.
A small folded photograph.
He opened it.
It showed Rory's late wife, Elena, sitting beneath an old oak tree.
She was holding Lily and Rose when they were babies.
But someone had written on the back.
Rory turned it over.
His face changed.
“What does it say?” I asked.
He didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
Three words had been written in black ink.
WATCH THE COAT.
Rory stood.
“Get the girls downstairs.”
“What coat?”
He looked toward the portrait hallway.
“Elena's.”
We hurried downstairs.
The panic room was hidden behind a reinforced library wall.
Rory entered a code.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
His face tightened.
“Someone changed the code.”
A metallic click came from behind us.
We turned.
One of the guards had raised his gun.
But he wasn't pointing it at Rory.
He was pointing at me.
“Drop the device.”
Rory stepped between us.
“Put the gun down.”
The guard's eyes moved to the black object in my hand.
“I said drop it.”
Then Rose whispered from behind Rory.
“That's not Mr. Harris.”
Everyone went still.
The guard frowned.
“What?”
Rose pointed at him.
“Mr. Harris has a scar.”
The man slowly touched his cheek.
Rory fired.
The gunman dropped.
The girls screamed.
Rory immediately covered their eyes.
“Don't look.”
I stared at the fallen man.
Then at Rose.
She was shaking.
But she had just saved us.
Rory looked at his daughters.
For the first time that night, something besides fear appeared in his eyes.
Pride.
He pulled both girls against him.
“You did good.”
Rose whispered, “Is he bad?”
Rory swallowed.
“I don't know yet.”
He looked at me.
“But we're going to find out.”
We moved into the library.
The old grandfather clock stood against the far wall.
Rory stared at it.
Then at the photograph.
Then at me.
“The coat.”
We climbed the stairs toward Elena's old bedroom.
The room had remained untouched since her death.
Her perfume still sat on the dresser.
Her wedding photograph stood beside a silver rosary.
And hanging inside the wardrobe was a cream-colored coat.
Rory reached for it.
I noticed something sewn into the inner pocket.
A small silver watch.
It had stopped at exactly 3:00.
Rory stared at it.
“That's Elena's.”
I touched the watch.
There was something engraved beneath the face.
For the nights you couldn't hear me.
Rory closed his eyes.
Then the watch began ticking.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The second hand moved.
And from inside the coat came a tiny electronic chirp.
Rory ripped open the lining.
A second device was hidden inside.
But this one wasn't a transmitter.
It was a recorder.
The screen showed one file.
03:00 — MARCH 14.
Rory pressed play.
Elena's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, Rory, then someone has already started using the girls.”
He stopped breathing.
Her voice continued.
“Don't trust the person who says she did it to protect them.”
The recording ended.
Then, from downstairs, Lily screamed.
“Daddy!”
Rory ran.
And I followed.
Because someone had just turned the nursery camera toward us.
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And on the monitor, written across the screen in red letters, were four words:
SHE KNOWS YOU FOUND IT.
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