Chapter 6 - The Elevator Camera
The building manager arrived twenty minutes later with two police officers.
Gwen immediately changed her tone.
She became fragile.
Concerned.
Almost tearful.
“My sister-in-law has been emotionally unstable,” she explained. “My brother is devastated.”
Liam stared at her as though he had never seen her before.
The manager opened the security footage on a laptop.
At 12:43 a.m., Gwen appeared in the hallway wearing a winter coat over her tan blouse.
She entered the elevator alone.
At 12:49, she returned with Nora.
Nora could barely walk.
Her wet hair hung across her face. A blanket was wrapped around her shoulders. Gwen held her tightly by the upper arm, smiling whenever Nora looked toward the camera.
They entered Liam’s apartment.
Eight minutes later, Gwen came back into the hallway alone.
She carried Nora’s damp shawl, a folded paper, and something small clenched in her fist.
The wedding ring.
Gwen’s theatrical sadness disappeared.
“That footage has been misunderstood.”
One officer paused the image.
“You brought Nora back upstairs after the maintenance supervisor helped her.”
“She asked me to.”
“Where did she go afterward?”
“I don’t know.”
The manager advanced the video.
At 1:02 a.m., Nora appeared again at the far end of the hallway.
She was alone.
She staggered toward the emergency stairwell and disappeared through the door.
Thirty seconds later, Gwen rushed after her.
Gwen returned five minutes later without Nora.
“What happened in that stairwell?” Liam demanded.
Gwen said nothing.
The officer asked for the stairwell footage.
The manager’s face tightened.
“There is no camera inside.”
Liam unfolded Nora’s torn note again.
The missing half was still unaccounted for.
One officer looked at Gwen.
“Empty your pockets.”
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A strip of damp paper fell from Gwen’s coat.
👉 The missing half of Nora’s note contained one sentence Gwen had been terrified Liam would read.
