Chapter 6: Someone Was Watching Me
“Alexander.””
He looked up.
I handed him my phone.
His expression changed the moment he saw the photograph.
“Where do you live?””
“Plano.””
“When was this taken?””
“I don’t know.””
He enlarged the image.
My apartment window was visible.
So was my car.
And through the living-room curtains, a lamp I had left on that morning.
Alexander looked at the message again.
You should have stayed out of this.
He immediately called Laura back into the room.
She read it once.
“Don’t respond.””
“I wasn’t planning to.””
“Screenshot everything.””
Alexander was already dialing the police.
Laura stopped him.
“The officers at the house gave me Detective Ruiz’s direct number.””
She called.
Within twenty minutes, Detective Elena Ruiz arrived at the hospital.
She was calm, direct, and uninterested in drama.
“Rachel, has anyone threatened you before?””
“No.””
“Any unusual cars outside your apartment?””
I thought.
Then remembered.
“A black SUV.””
Alexander looked at me.
“When?””
“Twice this week.””
“What kind?””
“I don’t know. Large. Tinted windows.””
Ruiz wrote it down.
“Did you see the driver?””
“No.””
“License plate?””
I shook my head.
Alexander looked furious.
“Get someone to her apartment.””
Ruiz looked at him.
“My department decides where officers go, Mr. Whitmore.””
He paused.
Then nodded.
“Understood.””
“But,” Ruiz continued, “given the message and the evidence from your home, I agree her residence should be checked.””
My phone buzzed again.
Everyone looked at it.
Another message.
Same number.
This time, no photograph.
Just words.
ASK ALEXANDER WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS FIRST WIFE.
I stared at the screen.
Alexander saw my face.
“What?””
I showed him.
Something changed in his expression.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
“Who was your first wife?”” Ruiz asked.
Alexander sat slowly.
“Emily.””
I had heard the name once.
Never the story.
“What happened to her?”” I asked.
Alexander looked toward Noah.
“She died.””
The room became silent.
Ruiz pulled her chair closer.
“How?””
“Car accident.””
“When?””
“Five years ago.””
“Was anyone else involved?””
“A truck crossed the median.””
“And the driver?””
“Died at the scene.””
Ruiz watched him.
“Why would someone bring her up now?””
“I don’t know.””
But his face suggested something had surfaced in his memory.
“Alexander?””
He rubbed his jaw.
“Emily was pregnant.””
My breath caught.
“How far along?””
“Four months.””
Ruiz stopped writing.
“Was the baby yours?””
“Yes.””
Alexander looked toward Noah.
“My first child.””
The trust.
Laura understood immediately.
“If Emily’s pregnancy had continued, that child would have triggered Charles Whitmore’s trust.””
Alexander nodded.
“But she died before the baby was born.””
Ruiz leaned back.
“And Vanessa knew this?””
“I never told her about the trust because I didn’t know about it myself.””
“But did she know about Emily?””
“Yes.””
“How?””
Alexander’s eyes hardened.
“Marcus introduced them.””
Nobody spoke.
Detective Ruiz wrote one word on her pad.
Marcus.
Alexander stood.
“I need to talk to my brother.””
“You’re not going anywhere,” Ruiz said.
“He knows something.””
“Which is exactly why you shouldn’t confront him without us.””
Alexander’s phone rang.
Evan again.
Alexander answered.
“Tell me.””
Evan’s voice was loud enough for us to hear.
“We found an external backup.””
“Of what?””
“Older security archives.””
“How old?””
“Five years.””
Alexander froze.
“The house had cameras then?””
“Yes. Different system. Your father originally installed them. When the security company upgraded your equipment, the archive was transferred but never indexed into the new app.””
Laura stepped closer.
“Can you access footage from the period around Emily’s death?””
“I’m searching now.””
Alexander put the phone on speaker.
Keyboard clicks filled the room.
Then Evan said, “I have something.””
“What?””
“Night before the accident.””
Alexander sat down.
“Play it.””
“I’m sending it.””
A file appeared.
Alexander opened it.
The footage showed the Whitmore driveway at 11:47 p.m.
Emily’s car sat near the garage.
A younger Alexander appeared briefly at the front door, kissed Emily, and went back inside.
Minutes passed.
Then another vehicle arrived.
A black sedan.
A man stepped out.
Even five years younger, I recognized him.
Marcus.
He walked toward Emily’s car.
Ruiz leaned closer.
“What is he doing?””
Marcus crouched beside the front wheel.
The angle wasn’t clear.
He remained there almost three minutes.
Then he stood.
Before leaving, another person appeared at the edge of the camera.
A woman.
Her face was hidden beneath a hood.
Marcus spoke to her.
She stepped into the porch light for less than two seconds.
Alexander stopped the video.
Nobody breathed.
He enlarged the frame.
The image pixelated.
But the face was visible.
Younger.
Different hair.
Same eyes.
I looked at Alexander.
“No.””
He enlarged it again.
Vanessa.
Alexander staggered away from the phone.
“That’s impossible.””
Ruiz looked at him.
“You said Marcus introduced you to Vanessa.””
“He did.””
“When?””
Alexander stared at the frozen image.
“Three years after Emily died.””
The detective’s expression hardened.
“So Vanessa knew Marcus at least three years earlier than you were told.””
Alexander’s phone buzzed again.
Evan had sent another file.
This one was not video.
It was an archived security access report from the morning of Emily’s accident.
Someone had entered the garage at 5:42 a.m.
Using a family access code.
Marcus’s code.
Alexander read it twice.
Then Detective Ruiz’s phone rang.
She answered.
“Ruiz.””
Her expression changed.
“When?””
She stood.
“Keep him there. I’m coming.””
She hung up.
“What happened?”” Alexander asked.
Ruiz looked directly at him.
“Officers went to your brother’s house.””
Alexander went still.
“And?””
“They found the front door open.””
My stomach dropped.
Ruiz grabbed her coat.
“Marcus is gone.””
Alexander stared at her.
Then she added the part that made Laura stop breathing.
“But they found a nursery photograph of Noah on his desk.””
May you like
Ruiz paused.
“Someone had drawn a red X across your son’s face.””
