Chapter 7 - The Neighbor’s Camera
The house next door belonged to Harold and June Simmons.
Their security system covered the shared fence and part of Linda’s backyard.
At 2:46 p.m., the camera captured Rachel walking toward the shed with a bottle of water.
At 2:49, she returned alone.
At 3:07, Linda walked toward the shed carrying Eli’s dinosaur.
At 3:09, the camera feed went black.
Someone had climbed onto the fence and removed the device.
The camera housing was later found in Linda’s trash.
But the cloud backup had preserved earlier footage.
That was the first camera Harris mentioned.
Rachel claimed she knew nothing about it.
Linda said the neighbor had been spying.
Neither explained why the camera was inside Linda’s trash.
Harold told police he saw Rachel near the fence shortly before the feed disappeared.
He also heard Linda say:
“If Natalie finds the card, everything is gone.”
The footage did not show what happened inside the shed.
It proved both women approached it while Eli was trapped.
But Harris still spoke about another recording.
That was why he asked which camera they thought police had found.
When Linda heard the question, she turned toward Rachel.
Rachel looked genuinely confused.
For the first time, Natalie understood something important.
Linda feared one camera.
Rachel feared another.
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They had committed the same crime for different reasons.
And one of them had recorded the other.
