Chapter 2 - THE MAN UPSTAIRS
Ethan handed Sophie to the housekeeper, Rosa.
“Take her outside.”
Vanessa moved.
“No.”
Ethan blocked her.
“Rosa.”
Rosa did not ask questions.
She carried Sophie through the side door.
Ethan called security.
No answer.
He called again.
Static.
Then footsteps moved upstairs.
Slow.
Not running.
Whoever was up there did not sound scared.
Ethan grabbed the heavy flashlight from the emergency drawer.
Vanessa watched him.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“Who’s upstairs?”
“Nobody.”
Another thump.
Ethan looked at her.
Vanessa looked away.
He climbed.
At the top landing, Sophie’s bedroom door was open.
A man in a gray maintenance jacket stood beside her dresser.
He was holding Sophie’s tablet.
“Put it down.”
The man turned.
Ethan recognized him.
Caleb Ross.
A private security contractor Vanessa had recommended six months earlier.
Caleb smiled.
“Mr. Bennett.”
“What are you doing in my daughter’s room?”
“System check.”
“With her tablet?”
Caleb’s smile faded.
Ethan raised his phone.
“I’m calling the police.”
Caleb lunged.
The first hit knocked the phone away.
Ethan drove the flashlight into Caleb’s forearm.
Caleb cursed.
They slammed into the wall.
A framed drawing fell.
Glass broke.
Then Caleb ran.
He did not go for the stairs.
He went through the upstairs guest room and out onto the balcony.
By the time Ethan reached it, Caleb was dropping onto the lower roof.
A black SUV waited in the alley.
It disappeared before Ethan could read the plate.
Behind him, Vanessa said quietly.
“You shouldn’t have come home.”
Ethan turned.
She stood in the doorway.
No smile now.
“Say that again.”
“I said you should’ve called.”
Police arrived seven minutes later.
Vanessa became someone else before they entered.
Shaking hands.
Tears.
Confused wife.
She told officers Caleb was a former contractor who must have broken in.
Ethan stared at her.
She did not look at him.
An officer found Sophie’s tablet case under the bed.
Empty.
The tablet Caleb carried was gone.
But beneath the dresser was a tiny memory card.
Ethan picked it up with a tissue.
Vanessa saw it.
Her breathing stopped.
Detective Mara Quinn noticed.
“What’s on that card, Mrs. Bennett?”
Vanessa blinked.
“I have no idea.”
Sophie returned with Rosa after police cleared the house.
She saw the card in Ethan’s hand.
“That’s Mommy’s.”
Vanessa snapped.
“Sophie.”
The little girl recoiled.
Detective Quinn’s eyes narrowed.
Ethan knelt beside his daughter.
“What do you mean, sweetheart?”
Sophie pointed at Vanessa.
“She puts it in the little black camera when you go away.”
May you like
Vanessa went completely still.
