Chapter 9 - THE MAN WITH THE PASSWORD
The security company disabled remote deletion before a second minute of footage disappeared.
Then they gave us the device identifier.
It belonged to a tablet assigned to Owen Pike, head of security for the estate.
Dad called him.
Owen answered on the second ring.
“Come to the main house.”
He arrived from the security cottage looking like a man who already knew why we wanted him.
I had known Owen nine years.
He had driven me to airports, walked the property after storms, and once sat beside Dad all night when someone tried to break into the wine cellar.
Now he could barely meet my eyes.
“Did you delete the patio footage?”
“No.”
“Did you try?”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
Dad’s voice dropped.
“Why?”
“Mr. Damon told me there’d been a private marital incident. He said Mrs. Bennett was distressed and the recording would humiliate her if staff accessed it.”
I stared at him.
“And you believed him?”
Owen looked at my bruised arm.
“I shouldn’t have.”
“No. You shouldn’t.”
“I disabled the local recorder before the incident too.”
Grace leaned forward.
“Before?”
“At 4:05. Mr. Damon texted me. Said he and Claire needed privacy.”
The attack had begun minutes later.
That mattered.
Damon had prepared the blackout before touching me.
It destroyed his claim that everything had happened spontaneously.
Owen handed Grace his phone.
The message remained.
PRIVATE FAMILY DISCUSSION. KILL PATIO RECORDING FOR 20 MINUTES. C.B. REQUESTED IT.
C.B.
My initials.
But I had requested nothing.
“Why try to delete again?” I asked.
Owen looked ashamed.
“Damon called after he left. Said the cloud buffer could ruin your reputation.”
“My reputation?”
“He said you attacked him first.”
I stepped closer.
“You saw me after.”
Owen nodded.
“You were shaking.”
“And you still obeyed him.”
“I have a daughter in college. He threatened my job.”
There it was.
Not an excuse.
A motive.
Damon didn’t need loyal people.
He needed frightened ones.
Grace copied the messages and told Owen not to alter anything else.
Dad wanted to fire him.
I stopped him.
“No.”
Owen looked stunned.
“You don’t get trust,” I said. “You get one chance to tell the whole truth.”
He nodded.
Then he gave us something we had not asked for.
“Lacey carried Claire’s laptop into the guesthouse around noon.”
My heart kicked.
“You saw her?”
“On the service-path camera.”
“Is that camera still working?”
Owen nodded.
“It’s on a separate recorder.”
Grace and I exchanged a look.
The missing laptop might not be missing at all.
May you like
It might still be inside the guesthouse.
📖 Owen’s betrayal cost me trust, but his admission turned Damon’s “private incident” into something planned—and gave us a place to recover what they stole. 👇
