Chapter 7 - The Sudden Darkness
The sudden plunge into darkness froze everyone in their tracks. The only illumination came from the amber glow of the setting sun filtering through the sheer lace curtains, casting long, eerie shadows across the nursery floor. Baby Leo’s cries seemed to echo more loudly in the sudden stillness, a frantic, breathless wail that heightened the mounting panic in the room.
“What just happened?” Eleanor’s voice snapped from near the doorway, stripped of its usual polished composure and laced with sudden, sharp unease. “Mark, did a breaker blow?”
“I don’t know. Stay still, don’t move,” Mark ordered, his voice tense as he fumbled in the dark for his smartphone. A moment later, the harsh, bright beam of his phone’s flashlight cut through the gloom, sweeping across the room and illuminating dust motes dancing in the air. He shone the light directly at Amy, who was standing stiffly by the changing table, clutching the feverish baby against her chest like a shield. “Amy, hand me the diaper bag.”
“No,” Amy said, her voice shaking but resolute as she backed away into the shadows near the adjoining bathroom. “You’ve made your decision, Mark. You think I’m a thief? Fine. But you are not searching my personal belongings in the dark based on a trap your mother engineered.”
“Amy, stop being irrational!” Mark barked, taking a sharp step forward, the flashlight beam bouncing off the wall. “The power outage has nothing to do with this. Hand over the bag, or I swear I will call the police right now and report the theft of those documents!”
“Go ahead! Call them!” Amy shouted back, the adrenaline surging through her veins overriding her exhaustion. “Let the police look at the security footage from the hallway! Let them check who actually walked past the study while the locksmith was there!”
Mark stopped dead in his tracks, the flashlight beam wavering slightly. He turned his head slowly to look back toward the doorway where Eleanor stood half-shrouded in darkness.
“Security footage?” Mark frowned, his brow furrowing as he looked back at his mother. “Mother, you said the hallway camera was turned off for repairs.”
Eleanor cleared her throat, her posture stiffening visibly in the dim light.
“It... it was, darling. At least, the technician mentioned it was malfunctioning earlier this week. We shouldn't rely on faulty technology when the physical evidence is literally sitting right here in her bag.”
“It wasn't malfunctioning,” a crisp, clear voice echoed from the hallway just outside the open nursery door.
Everyone froze. A tall figure stepped into the threshold, silhouetted by the dim emergency lighting of the corridor. It was David, the family’s longtime estate manager, holding a heavy metal flashlight of his own. His face was grim, unsmiling, and completely devoid of the polite deference he usually showed Eleanor.
“David?” Mark said, lowering his phone flashlight in confusion. “What are you doing up here? The power—”
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“I cut the main breaker to the east wing, Mr. Harrison,” David interrupted smoothly, stepping into the nursery and holding up a small, blinking flash drive. “Because if I hadn’t, Mrs. Harrison senior here would have deleted the lobby footage before you ever had a chance to see who actually slipped that envelope into your wife’s bag.”
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