Chapter 6 - Whispers in the Floorboards
Detective Grant obtained an expanded search warrant for Lorraine’s entire estate. Because I was Mia’s sole legal guardian willing to cooperate, I accompanied Officer Rivera and the forensic team back to the house on Elm Street.
The house felt like a crime scene out of a horror movie. Police tape fluttered across the porch where I had found Rosie only hours earlier. Inside, the forensic unit was pulling up loose floorboards in the master bedroom closet.
“Detective! Over here!” an officer called out.
Underneath the vintage floorboards, Lorraine had constructed a false bottom safe. Inside were six high-resolution hard drives, stacks of counterfeit identification cards, and several high-grade wireless receivers.
Officer Rivera plugged one of the hard drives into his mobile monitor. My breath caught in my throat.
The screen showed live video feeds from inside my home.
There was a camera hidden in our master bedroom smoke detector. Another in our living room clock. And most sickening of all, a hidden lens drilled into the stuffed animal shelf in Mia’s nursery.
“She was watching us,” I whispered, nausea rising in my throat. “She knew our daily schedules. She knew when I left for the hospital, when Jackson went to the gym... she knew every conversation we had.”
Jackson, who had followed us against police orders, stood in the doorway, staring at the monitors showing our private lives.
“I gave her those smoke detectors,” Jackson whispered, his voice cracking. “She told me they were smart safety alarms with carbon monoxide detectors. She said she was protecting us...”
I turned on Jackson, my voice deadly quiet. “Every time I said I felt like someone was watching me, you told me I was paranoid. Every time I said Lorraine knew things she couldn't possibly know, you told me I was crazy and needed therapy. You gave her the keys to our lives, Jackson.”
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“Emily, please... I didn't know!” Jackson wept, dropping to his knees on the floor. “I was just trying to be a good son!”
“You forgot how to be a father,” I said, walking out the front door into the cool night air.
