Chapter 4
Dr. Vance discharged Lily by late afternoon, clearing her for home care with strict instructions to monitor her sleep patterns and keep her away from bright screens or loud noises. The drive back to the suburban cul-de-sac was silent. The white-picket-fenced houses blurred past in a monotonous parade of normalcy, mocking the fractured reality inside the car.
When David unlocked the front door, the house felt colder than it had the day before. The white walls of the entryway seemed to close in around them. Elena carried the baby carrier up the stairs, her steps measured and cautious, while David trailed behind with the diaper bags and medical supplies.
They reached the nursery. The room had been cleaned by an automated vacuum, but the lingering smell of antiseptic remained. The white baby monitor mounted on the wall blinked its steady green light. Elena placed the carrier on the white dresser, unbuckled Lily, and lifted her gently into the crib. The baby stirred, let out a soft sigh, and drifted back to sleep.
"I'm going down to check the fuse box in the basement," David said, his voice clipped. "The hallway light flickered twice while you were settling her. Probably a loose wire."
"Take your time," Elena replied coldly without turning around.
As soon as his heavy footsteps faded down the wooden staircase, Elena walked over to the wall where the baby monitor was mounted. It was a high-end model, capable of cloud streaming and remote pan-tilt operations. David had installed it himself the week before Lily was born, insisting they needed the highest level of security available.
Elena stood on tiptoe, reaching up to examine the mounting bracket. She noticed a small, recessed slot on the underside of the camera housing—a micro-SD card slot. David had told her the footage was stored exclusively in their private home cloud server, accessible only through his master app password.
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Her fingers brushed the edge of the device. It felt slightly warm, as if it had been transmitting data continuously for hours. She pulled gently on the casing. With a soft click, a tiny black card slipped from the hidden slot and landed softly in her palm.
Elena stared at the piece of plastic. Why would a cloud-connected camera require a local storage backup card unless someone wanted to record something that couldn't be traced back to the internet?
