Chương 5
"I watched you."
Imani stared at her.
Claire realized too late how that sounded.
"I mean I paid attention."
"You paid attention."
"Yes."
"To whether I was a criminal."
"To whether anything was wrong."
Imani stepped away from the door.
"Something was wrong."
"I know that now."
"No, Claire."
Imani pointed toward the crib.
"Something was wrong before now, because you were treating everybody like suspects instead of telling anybody there was danger."
Claire's nostrils flared.
"You have no idea what happens when people know they're being investigated."
"And you have no idea what happens when people don't know somebody may be watching them."
Evan said, "Enough."
This time he kept his voice low.
He looked tired rather than commanding.
"Nobody leaves yet."
Claire turned to him.
"You can't actually mean that."
"I mean until I understand what the hell is happening in my house."
"Then call my father."
"No."
"Evan."
"No."
He walked to the armchair near the window and sat with Sophie on his knee.
The movement seemed to cost him something.
He took out his phone.
Claire watched.
"Who are you calling?"
"Our attorney."
Her face hardened.
"Your attorney."
"Our family attorney."
"Your family's attorney."
"The one who doesn't report to your father."
That silenced her.
Imani looked toward the door.
"I need to tell Mrs. Alvarez not to bring anyone upstairs."
Evan nodded.
Claire said, "No."
Both of them looked at her.
Claire exhaled through her nose.
"If someone in the house is involved, you don't announce that we've found anything."
Imani hated that the logic made sense.
Evan looked at the tablet again.
"She's right."
Claire gave him a bitter smile.
"How generous."
He ignored it.
"Imani, can you text her something normal?"
Imani pulled out her phone.
Her hands were steadier now.
She typed that Sophie had finally fallen asleep and asked for thirty minutes of quiet upstairs.
Mrs. Alvarez answered with a thumbs-up and a complaint that the delivery driver had brought six cases of sparkling water instead of still.
The mundanity of it made Imani want to sit down.
She did not.
Evan called the attorney.
The conversation was brief and deliberately vague.
He said there was a private security issue involving possible unauthorized surveillance in the home.
He said there was physical digital media.
He said a child might be involved.
Then he listened for almost a minute.
"No police yet?"
Claire looked at him sharply.
Evan continued listening.
"Understood."
Another pause.
"Yes, preserve everything."
He ended the call.
"What did he say?"
Claire asked.
"Don't touch the card again."
Imani immediately moved her hand away from the marble, though she had not been touching it.
"Don't alter files, don't forward anything, don't delete anything, don't confront staff, and don't call your father."
Claire's mouth twisted.
"Very balanced advice."
"He also said to photograph the setup as it is and record who handled the card."
Imani raised a hand slightly.
"I did."
Evan looked at her.
"Handled it?"
"Yes."
"Who else?"
"No one that I saw."
Claire said, "The man in the recording obviously did."
Evan looked back at the frozen image.
"Can we identify him?"
Claire's eyes flicked toward the screen.
"Maybe."
"How?"
"My father has access records for everyone assigned to private family operations."
Imani said, "Assigned by his company."
Claire nodded.
"But that doesn't mean the man worked for him."
"You said he told you about the device."
"He told me where to look."
"Then who sent the man?"
Claire looked down.
The pause was small but unmistakable.
Evan stood.
"Claire."
"I did."
Imani felt the answer before she understood it.
"You sent him into the nursery."
"To remove the device."
"At two in the morning."
"Sophie was supposed to be asleep."
"That makes it better?"
"It makes it safer than doing it during the day with people moving through the house."
Imani's voice sharpened.
"You could have removed Sophie first."
Claire looked at her.
"I thought it would take thirty seconds."
"But it didn't."
"No."
"Who is he?"
"A contractor."
"Name."
Claire hesitated again.
Evan said, "Name."
"Daniel Voss."
Imani repeated it silently.
Nothing.
Then the posture returned to her mind.
The lowered shoulder.
The slight forward lean.
She had seen him outside.
Not in the house.
At the curb.
Twice.
A dark SUV.
A man pretending to check his phone while watching the side gate.
Her stomach dropped.
"I've seen him."
Claire turned to her.
"Where?"
"Outside the house."
"When?"
"Last week."
Evan's head snapped around.
"What day?"
"Tuesday."
"What time?"
"After lunch."
"Doing what?"
"Standing across the street."
Claire frowned.
"He shouldn't have been here Tuesday."
Imani looked at her.
"You knew his schedule?"
"I hired him for Saturday."
"Only Saturday?"
"Yes."
"Then he was here before you hired him."
Claire's face changed.
The defensive anger thinned.
"What exactly did you see?"
"He was beside a black SUV near the hydrant."
"Did you speak to him?"
"No."
"Did he see you?"
"I think so."
"Think?"
"He looked at me."
Claire stepped closer.
"What did you do?"
"Kept walking."
"With Sophie?"
"Yes."
Evan swore under his breath.
Imani felt shame rise irrationally, as if she had failed some test nobody had told her she was taking.
"I thought he was a driver."
Claire looked toward the window.
"He wasn't supposed to know about you."
The words landed harder than anything else she had said.
"What does that mean?"
Claire's eyes returned to her.
"When I contacted him, I never gave him staff names."
Evan's voice became very still.
"Who gave you his number?"
Claire did not answer.
"Your father?"
"No."
"Then who?"
"A security consultant Dad uses sometimes."
"Name."
"Martin Hale."
Evan looked as if the name meant something.
"From Boston?"
Claire nodded.
"He's worked for your father for years."
"Off and on."
"Why didn't you call the company directly?"
"Because Dad told me not to create an internal case."
"Why?"
May you like
"He didn't know whether someone inside the company was responsible."
Imani stared at the red memory card.
