Chương 10
A card listed the report number.
The second device had been left in place after photographs were taken, pending further instruction.
I did not touch it.
Mrs. Alvarez stood behind me.
“That little thing was watching us?”
“Maybe.”
“I hope it enjoyed my pajamas.”
I laughed before I could stop myself.
She nodded.
“Good.”
“What?”
“You looked like you needed to remember your face can still do that.”
I went into the bedroom.
The filing cabinet drawer was open.
The folder was gone.
That much was now certain.
I photographed the empty drawer.
Then I checked the fireproof box beneath my desk.
Our marriage certificate remained.
Property documents remained.
Emergency cash remained.
The passports and identity records were missing only because they had all been kept together in the folder my mother carried on camera.
I called Officer Patel and updated her.
Then I started the inventory.
The baby monitor.
Breast pump.
Diaper bag.
Clothing sets.
Bottle sterilizer.
Two boxes of formula.
Several prepared food deliveries.
Maya’s medication.
Her portable charger.
A cash envelope containing six hundred dollars we kept for household emergencies.
That envelope was gone too.
I kept finding smaller things.
A silver baby spoon from Maya’s grandmother.
A set of unopened pacifiers.
A gift card from her coworkers.
Three blankets.
A new thermometer.
Some might have been moved.
Some might have been packed into bags accidentally.
I refused to call everything stolen simply because I could not find it.
That was harder than it sounds.
Anger likes certainty.
I went into the nursery.
The hidden camera sat beneath the wall shelf, almost invisible behind a decorative wooden moon.
Its lens faced the rocking chair.
Maya had spent hours in that chair feeding Liam.
My stomach turned.
I stepped back.
Mrs. Alvarez had stopped joking.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s bad.”
“Yeah.”
She crossed her arms.
“Your mother was in my apartment yesterday for twenty minutes.”
I looked at her.
“Did she bring anything?”
“A purse.”
“Did she use the bathroom?”
“No.”
“Was she alone anywhere?”
“Kitchen for maybe thirty seconds.”
“Why?”
“I went to get my glasses.”
She looked toward the hallway.
“You think she put one in my place?”
“No.”
I answered too quickly.
Mrs. Alvarez noticed.
“You don’t know.”
“No.”
Her expression hardened.
“I’m checking.”
“Wait for police.”
“It is my apartment.”
“And if you find something, you’ll touch it.”
“That is not the point.”
“You have become extremely annoying since Germany.”
“Please.”
She studied me.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
My mother’s warning returned to me.
There are things in that apartment you do not understand.
I walked back into the kitchen and looked around.
If she had been referring to the cameras, the message made sense.
But why warn me?
Why not deny everything?
Why tell me there was something to find?
I opened the home-security archive again and searched the dates around December twentieth.
The day the cameras were delivered, my mother entered the apartment at 2:11 p.m.
Maya was still in the hospital after Liam’s delivery.
I was there with her.
My mother remained inside for almost three hours.
The visible cameras showed her moving between rooms carrying a small shopping bag.
At 3:04, Chloe arrived.
At 3:17, they sat at the kitchen table.
My mother placed one of the miniature camera boxes in front of her.
Chloe recoiled.
Even without audio, the reaction was obvious.
I opened the clip.
This time the microphone had captured their conversation.
“You cannot do this,” Chloe said.
My mother opened the packaging.
“It is my son’s apartment.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“He paid for most of it.”
“Mom.”
“I’m not debating property law with you.”
“I’m saying this is insane.”
Eleanor removed the camera.
“I need to know what happens when David isn’t here.”
Chloe stood.
“What do you think happens?”
“I think she manipulates him.”
“She just got cut open.”
“That has nothing to do with it.”
“Then wait.”
“For what?”
“For her not to be recovering from surgery before you spy on her.”
My mother’s face hardened.
“I am protecting my grandson.”
Chloe stared at her.
“From Maya?”
“From instability.”
“Based on what?”
“You have seen her.”
“I’ve seen her pregnant.”
“You laugh now.”
“I’m not laughing.”
My mother lowered her voice.
“You did not hear what she said to me in the hospital.”
Chloe sat again.
“What did she say?”
“She said if I interfered with the baby, she would make sure I never saw him.”
I froze.
Maya had never told me that.
Chloe frowned.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Mom.”
“I suggested that newborns need family around them.”
“That is not all you said.”
My mother began gathering the packaging.
“You always take her side when it is convenient.”
“I am literally here helping you hide cameras.”
“Then stop lecturing me.”
Chloe pressed both hands over her face.
“Jesus.”
The clip continued.
My mother carried two devices toward the hall.
Chloe stayed at the table.
After nearly a minute, she took out her phone.
She typed something.
Then deleted it.
Typed again.
Deleted it again.
Finally she called someone.
The microphone caught only her side.
“Mark.”
A pause.
“No, listen.”
Another pause.
“My mom is putting cameras in David’s apartment.”
I leaned closer.
“She says Maya threatened her.”
Chloe rubbed her forehead.
“No, I don’t know.”
She listened.
Then said, “Because if I tell David, he’ll lose his mind.”
Another pause.
“No.”
Her voice became smaller.
“I don’t want to be involved.”
She hung up.
For the first time since seeing the resale account, my anger toward Chloe changed shape.
It did not disappear.
She had still taken things.
She had still mocked Maya in messages.
She had still gone to Miami.
But she had known the cameras were wrong from the beginning.
And she had chosen silence.
That was different from ignorance.
It was cowardice.
Cowardice can destroy people just as effectively.
My phone rang.
Chloe.
I almost declined.
Then I answered.
May you like
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Finally she said, “You found them.”
