Chapter 10 - WHAT JASPER TOLD THE CAMERAMiles did not flee.
He returned to the Beaumont house with Hazel, Lena, Toby, and Rose while forensic analysts examined Emily’s photograph.
“The image is real,” Lena said. “But the timestamp may have been altered.”
Miles stood in Jasper’s office, exhausted and pale.
“I met Jasper that night.”
Hazel stared at him.
“You denied being here.”
“I denied touching his car.”
“That is not what I said.”
Miles finally explained.
Jasper called him after discovering Frederick had copied the garage key. He asked Miles to come without alerting anyone. Miles entered through the side gate to avoid the porch camera, unaware of the second lens.
Inside the garage, Jasper showed him fresh marks near the car.
“He knew someone had entered,” Miles said. “He wanted the vehicle inspected before morning.”
“Did you inspect it?”
“No. I told him not to drive.”
“And then?”
“He accused me of delaying again.”
Jasper refused to miss the meeting with state investigators. Miles left angry, drove north, and assumed Jasper would use Hazel’s SUV instead.
“Why conceal this?”
“Because I knew how it looked after the crash.”
“You let Calvin become the only suspect.”
“I was afraid.”
Hazel felt Jasper’s recorded words return.
Frightened men leave evidence.
“What did Jasper mean when he said someone else wanted the trust?”
Miles looked toward Toby and Rose.
“I don’t know.”
Rose wandered toward the bookshelf and touched the wooden music box Jasper had made for her.
“Daddy said the camera listens when this song stops.”
Hazel froze.
The hidden note had said Rose knew the song.
They had used it to locate the porch compartment, but perhaps that had been only the first instruction.
Rose wound the music box.
A soft lullaby filled the office.
When the final note faded, a quiet click sounded inside the wall.
Toby pulled away a narrow section of molding.
Behind it sat the porch recorder’s original backup drive.
Emily had stolen the visible storage device.
Jasper had concealed a second one.
Lena connected it to an isolated laptop.
The final file had been scheduled to unlock only after the porch camera captured Frederick touching Toby or Hazel.
Jasper appeared on-screen.
“If this recording opened, my parents chose violence.”
Hazel gripped the edge of the desk.
“Frederick will claim the house. Avery will take the ring. Calvin will take the folder. Grant will follow whatever order protects his daughter.”
Miles stood perfectly still.
Jasper continued.
“But none of them created the successor clause.”
Hazel looked toward Miles.
“The clause naming Miles appears genuine because I signed it. I signed it after he told me Hazel and the children would be killed unless one person outside the family could control the shares.”
Miles whispered Jasper’s name.
Jasper’s expression hardened on the screen.
“Miles said the threat came from Frederick’s creditors. I believed him until I traced the lender.”
A document appeared beside Jasper.
Northstar Equity’s legal representative was Miles Whitaker.
Not personally.
Through a private holding company created years earlier.
Hazel slowly turned.
“You represented the people threatening us.”
“I negotiated with them to reduce Frederick’s debt.”
“You wrote yourself into the trust.”
“To prevent Northstar from seizing it.”
“You lied every time I asked.”
Miles reached for his briefcase.
Lena raised her weapon.
“Step away from it.”
The briefcase was already open.
Inside lay Jasper’s second brown folder, the missing porch-camera drive Emily believed she had stolen, and a small electronic transmitter matching the system used to redirect Jasper’s final call.
Miles looked at Hazel.
“You don’t understand what Jasper uncovered.”
“Then explain it.”
“Frederick’s debt was not the danger.”
The lights went out.
Every door in the house locked simultaneously.
Rose screamed.
The laptop remained illuminated by its battery.
Jasper’s recording continued through the darkness.
“If Miles is standing beside you when this plays, do not let him know you have seen the final page.”
Hazel lowered her eyes toward the folder.
A paper protruded from beneath the trust documents.
It carried a recent photograph of Jasper’s crashed car.
A man stood beside the wreck before Grant arrived.
He wore a sheriff’s uniform.
Lena stared at the photograph.
“That officer died six years ago.”
Headlights flooded the windows.
A black SUV stopped beneath the blinking porch camera.
Miles closed the briefcase.
“Hazel, give me Jasper’s recording before the person outside realizes it survived.”
A fist struck the front door.
Then Jasper’s own voice came through the porch speaker.
“Hazel, don’t open it.”
Miles went ghostly pale.
Another strike shook the door.
Toby moved in front of Rose.
Hazel raised the phone, but the screen showed no signal.
Above them, the hidden camera’s red light began blinking from inside the house.
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To be continued...
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