CHAPTER 28 THE CAMERA IN GRACE’S ROOM
Elena reached Grace’s bedroom before security.
The door stood open.
Maya was beside the bed, holding the small camera she had used at the courthouse years earlier.
“Step away from my daughter.”
Maya raised both hands.
“Grace is not here.”
Elena looked toward the empty bed.
Rosa had taken Grace to the garden ten minutes earlier.
“What are you doing?”
“Removing a second camera.”
Maya pointed toward a tiny device hidden inside the wooden frame above Grace’s bed.
Rebecca entered and placed Maya against the wall.
“Who installed it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You came directly to it.”
“Because I received a message telling me where it was.”
“From whom?”
“The same person who paid me to attend the courthouse hearing years ago.”
Elena stared at her.
“You were paid to record my fall?”
“I was paid to record Grant.”
“By Iris?”
Maya did not answer.
Rebecca searched her bag.
Inside was the original memory card from the courthouse.
“You told us this was destroyed.”
“I lied.”
Rebecca inserted it into a secure laptop.
The familiar footage began.
Elena appeared at the top of the stairs.
Grant blocked her path.
Sloane moved closer.
The confrontation unfolded exactly as Elena remembered.
But Maya had kept recording after Elena fell.
People screamed.
Adrian ran into the frame.
Grant looked toward the balcony above the staircase.
A woman stood behind the railing.
Her face was hidden beneath a dark veil.
Grant asked:
“Was that enough?”
The woman replied:
“Take the child at the hospital.”
Elena leaned closer to the screen.
The voice sounded familiar.
Rebecca enhanced the audio.
The woman continued:
“If the mother survives, use Hale. If Hale fails, activate Vane.”
Robert Hale.
Judge Vane.
The plan had existed before Grace’s birth.
Then another voice entered the recording.
A man standing near Maya whispered:
“The Mercer contingency has been compromised.”
The voice belonged to Adrian.
Elena turned toward her brother.
Adrian looked stunned.
“That is not me.”
“It is your voice,” Rebecca said.
“I was at the bottom of the stairs.”
The video confirmed it.
Adrian could be seen running toward Elena at the exact moment the second Adrian spoke beside the camera.
Someone had copied his voice years before the recent cloned calls and identification cards.
Maya stepped away from the wall.
“They were testing doubles.”
“Doubles?” Elena asked.
“People trained to imitate voices, movements, signatures, and digital identities. Thomas used them to create alibis and false evidence.”
Rebecca looked at the footage again.
“Who ran the program?”
Maya’s expression changed.
“Samuel.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“Samuel created it to protect witnesses,” Maya said. “Thomas turned it into a weapon.”
Elena glanced toward the hidden camera above Grace’s bed.
“What were they recording?”
“Her speech. Her movements. Her face.”
“They are creating a double of my daughter?”
Maya looked toward the garden.
“They already have.”
Outside, Grace stood beside Rosa near the fountain.
Another little girl emerged from behind the hedges.
She had the same dark hair.
The same coat.
The same face.
Grace stared at her.
May you like
The second child smiled.
Then Rosa collapsed.
