Chapter 6 - The Camera Above the Garage
My first thought was my brother.
It was the obvious answer.
Daniel had called him within hours of my leaving.
He had already been telling him I was unstable.
But Lorraine shook her head when I asked.
“Not your brother.”
“Then who?”
“I don’t know. Daniel never said the name.”
That somehow felt worse.
I left the hospital with Rachel waiting beside the elevator.
“What happened?”
“We have another problem.”
“Only one?”
Despite everything, I laughed.
It lasted less than a second.
Back at the hotel, we reviewed every person in my family Daniel had contacted recently.
My cousin Emily.
My uncle Robert.
My younger sister, Paige.
Paige lived four states away and rarely involved herself in family drama.
Which made the text she sent me that evening impossible to ignore.
CAN WE TALK WITHOUT DANIEL KNOWING?
I called immediately.
Paige answered in a whisper.
“I think I did something stupid.”
My chest tightened.
“What?”
“Daniel asked me to sign something last month.”
Rachel looked up sharply.
“What did it say?”
“He said it was for insurance. Just confirming you two had lived together at the house since the wedding.”
“Anything else?”
“I didn’t read all of it.”
Of course.
People signed things for family because family trained them not to be suspicious.
“Send me everything you have.”
Ten minutes later, Paige emailed a photograph.
The document looked harmless until Rachel read the final paragraph.
Paige had signed a statement saying she had “personal knowledge of Daniel Hale’s substantial financial contributions to the acquisition, maintenance, and improvement of the marital residence.”
Acquisition.
Daniel had not contributed one dollar to acquiring my house.
My aunt had left it to me eighteen months before I met him.
“Paige,” I said carefully, “why did you say Daniel helped acquire the house?”
“I didn’t know it said that.”
Rachel pointed toward the notary stamp.
Martin Keller.
The same notary seen entering my house.
Paige started crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop. You didn’t know.”
But Daniel did.
And now we knew his three witnesses.
Marcus.
Lorraine.
Paige.
Except Lorraine had never signed.
That meant Daniel was missing part of whatever plan he had been building.
At 11:00 p.m., I checked more security recordings.
Not because I expected to find anything new.
Because anger would not let me sleep.
I searched the date Paige had signed.
Daniel arrived home at 2:18 p.m.
Marcus arrived eight minutes later.
They stood in the garage for nearly ten minutes before entering.
The outdoor camera had no perfect audio, but when Daniel opened the garage door, the microphone captured fragments.
“…once the equity clears…”
Then static.
Marcus said something.
Daniel answered.
“…she’ll never know until afterward.”
Rachel leaned closer.
We increased the volume.
Marcus sounded nervous.
“What if she checks the company?”
Daniel laughed.
“She trusts me.”
A pause.
Then the clearest sentence of the recording came through.
“Once she signs the refinance, we’re clean.”
Rachel and I looked at each other.
“But I didn’t sign anything,” I said.
“No.”
“Then what was he waiting for?”
Rachel replayed it.
Once she signs the refinance.
Future tense.
The forged guarantee had been step one.
Something bigger was coming.
At 11:47 p.m., my phone received an email.
No sender name.
No message.
One attachment.
A photograph.
It showed Daniel sitting inside a restaurant with Marcus.
Between them was a stack of papers.
On top was a document titled RESIDENTIAL REFINANCE AUTHORIZATION.
May you like
And beside Daniel’s hand was a signature page.
My name had already been typed on it.
