Chapter 8 - THE LIVE FEED
The camera transmitted to an encrypted account.
The forensic team traced the signal.
It bounced through three servers.
Then it connected to a laptop inside a private cottage forty miles outside the city.
The cottage belonged to a holding company.
The company belonged to Evelyn.
Police surrounded the property before dawn.
Ryan waited inside an unmarked vehicle with Detective Ortiz.
“You should be at the hospital,” she told him.
“I need to see this.”
“You need to let us handle it.”
“My mother built my entire life around secrets.”
Ortiz looked at him.
“And tonight you learned secrets can be dangerous.”
Ryan nodded.
The tactical team entered the cottage.
No shots were fired.
No one was inside.
But the laptop was still warm.
A cup of coffee sat beside it.
On the screen was a live feed from Ryan’s house.
Evelyn had watched them open the safe.
She had seen Ryan read his father’s letter.
A second monitor displayed the hospital entrance.
A third showed Maya’s room.
Ryan stepped closer.
“How does she have access to the hospital camera?”
A technician examined the system.
“She doesn’t.”
“That feed is from a hidden device.”
Ryan’s blood went cold.
“There’s a camera in Maya’s room?”
Ortiz called the hospital.
Security rushed upstairs.
They found a tiny wireless camera taped beneath a flower arrangement delivered that morning.
The card attached to the flowers read, “For Noah.”
No sender was listed.
Ryan called Maya.
She answered on the first ring.
“Is Noah safe?”
“Yes.”
“Are you alone?”
“There are two officers outside.”
“Do not open the door for anyone.”
Maya’s voice tightened.
“What happened?”
“She put a camera in your room.”
Silence.
Then Maya whispered, “She can see us?”
“Not anymore.”
Ryan looked around the cottage.
The walls were covered with photographs.
His childhood.
His wedding.
Noah’s birth.
Maya sleeping beside the crib.
Evelyn had not simply planned a custody case.
She had built an archive of their lives.
Ortiz opened a metal cabinet.
Inside were passports.
Cash.
Medication.
And a printed flight itinerary for that evening.
Two passengers were listed.
May you like
Evelyn Carter.
Noah Carter.
