Chapter 14 - THE CAMERA BEHIND THE MIRROR
Everyone looked around the room.
The security officer moved first.
He switched off the visible lights and swept the walls with a detector.
A small signal flashed near the decorative mirror above the fireplace.
He removed it carefully.
Behind the frame sat a pinhole camera.
Vanessa stepped away.
“How long has that been there?”
The officer examined the wiring.
“Months. Possibly longer.”
I looked at Adrian.
“This is how you knew every conversation I had.”
He did not deny it.
Police vehicles stopped outside.
Red and blue reflections moved across the tall windows.
My father’s attorney approached the front door.
“Wait,” the security officer warned.
“Why?”
“If the personnel files Marcus found are real, we don’t know who was compromised.”
A knock sounded.
“Police department. Open the door.”
Adrian smiled.
“You wanted help.”
My father looked toward the entrance but did not move.
The officer used a secure phone to verify the names of the responding officers.
While he spoke, I watched Adrian.
His gaze moved toward the hallway.
Then toward Vanessa.
He gave the smallest nod.
She saw it.
So did I.
Vanessa stepped backward.
I caught her wrist.
“What did he tell you to do?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t lie again.”
Her eyes filled with panic.
“He has a second phone.”
“Where?”
“In the wine cabinet.”
Adrian ran.
The security officer intercepted him near the hallway and drove him against the wall.
Adrian fought hard, but the officer pinned both arms behind him.
My father opened the wine cabinet.
Behind several bottles, he found a locked metal box.
The brass key from the divorce folder fit perfectly.
Inside lay a phone, a passport bearing Adrian’s photograph under another name, and a stack of small memory cards.
The passport identified him as Nathaniel Cross.
Claire sat down abruptly.
“I knew that name.”
My father turned.
“From where?”
“It appeared in one of Catherine’s sealed reports.”
“You told me you never saw her records.”
“I didn’t see the medical records. I saw a legal memo.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because someone removed it from the archive before I could verify it.”
Adrian struggled against the officer.
“You’re all chasing a dead man.”
I picked up the passport.
“The photograph is yours.”
“The identity isn’t.”
My phone remained connected to Marcus.
His voice came faintly through the speaker.
“Elena, don’t use that phone.”
I looked at the device in my father’s hand.
“Why?”
“It’s linked to the nineteenth-floor system.”
My father placed it on the table.
The screen lit automatically.
A live video appeared.
Marcus stood inside a dark archive surrounded by boxes.
Behind him, a figure moved.
“Marcus,” Vanessa whispered.
He turned too late.
Someone struck the phone from his hand.
The image spun across the floor and stopped at an angle.
We saw polished shoes.
Dark trousers.
A hand wearing a gold ring.
My father stared at the ring.
I had seen it before.
He wore an identical one every day.
The front door opened.
May you like
Police officers entered with weapons lowered but ready.
Behind them walked a man with silver hair and my father’s face.
