Chapter 7 - The Cameras That Went DarkDaniel spent the next morning doing something he had avoided for years.
He went through the stable records himself.
He found Mason's official maintenance reports in the estate management system. Each inspection was dated, detailed, and accompanied by photographs when repairs were required.
Mason had been methodical.
Annoyingly methodical, Daniel sometimes used to say.
Now that thoroughness looked less like stubbornness and more like integrity.
The final stall inspection before the incident was time-stamped 2:41 p.m.
Copper's outer gate was marked secure.
The interior partition was marked secure.
There was no defect recorded.
The incident had happened shortly after three.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Then he opened the security administration menu.
Six weeks earlier, four cameras covering the stable aisles had been taken offline.
The listed reason was a privacy review.
The authorization appeared under Claire's estate management account.
Daniel felt a sharp tightening in his chest.
He remembered Claire mentioning the review during dinner.
She had said one employee was uncomfortable being recorded while changing work clothes near a storage area.
Daniel had suggested redirecting the cameras.
Claire had said the contractor would handle everything.
He had never followed up.
Now he called the security company.
A technician named Aaron explained that the cameras had been disconnected from the recorder at the request of an authorized household representative.
"Were they defective?" Daniel asked.
"No, sir."
"Who requested the work?"
"I can send the service ticket to your attorney."
"Did you explain that the cameras would stop recording?"
"Yes. The work order was specifically for temporary suspension."
Daniel thanked him and hung up.
He sat motionless for several minutes.
Then he called Claire.
"Come to the stable office."
Claire arrived fifteen minutes later.
She was carrying a leather handbag and wearing sunglasses pushed up on her head.
"What's wrong?"
Daniel turned the monitor toward her.
"Why were the stable cameras disabled?"
Claire looked at the screen.
"The privacy review."
"Who complained?"
She hesitated.
"One of the employees."
"Which one?"
"I'd have to check."
"The company says you specifically requested suspension of recording."
"Yes, temporarily."
"For six weeks?"
"Daniel, we've been dealing with a hundred things."
He studied her face.
"Did Mason know?"
"I assume he did."
"He says he was told it was temporary."
"Then he knew."
Daniel stood.
"Did you open Copper's stall gate?"
The question hung between them.
Claire blinked.
"What?"
"On the day Mason was dismissed. Did you open the gate?"
Her expression changed into disbelief.
"Are you seriously asking me that?"
"Answer me."
"No, Daniel. I did not deliberately endanger your daughter."
The wording struck him.
He had asked whether she opened the gate.
She had answered whether she deliberately endangered Emma.
Those were not the same question.
"Then how did it open?"
"Perhaps Mason left it unsecured."
"His inspection says otherwise."
"His inspection is not proof of what happened afterward."
Daniel looked at the monitor.
She was right about that.
And he hated that she was right.
Claire stepped closer.
"You're exhausted. You're frightened about the financial situation. Now people are filling your head with suspicions."
"Who?"
"Rebecca. The trust company. That stable hand."
Daniel looked up.
"Mason hasn't spoken to me since I fired him."
Claire lowered her voice.
"Then why are you defending him?"
Daniel remembered the slap.
He remembered Mason turning toward Emma before defending himself.
"I don't know," he said.
For the first time, the admission was truthful.
That afternoon, Mason received a registered letter.
It came from a law firm representing Whitmore Land Holdings.
The letter demanded that he return any confidential company records, stop contacting estate contractors, and refrain from making allegedly defamatory statements about Claire or Martin Voss.
Nina read it twice.
"An aggressive letter," she said.
"Do I have to give them my notebook?"
"No. Your personal contemporaneous journal is not automatically company property. We should still review what documents you copied, and we'll respond carefully."
Mason sat opposite her.
"They know what I have."
"They know you're asking questions."
He looked toward the window.
"What's the difference?"
"Evidence," Nina said.
She opened her laptop.
"The security vendor preserved its service ticket. Rebecca has asked them to retain the logs and related emails. That's a useful development."
"Daniel's attorney?"
"Yes."
Mason looked surprised.
"He's investigating Claire?"
"He's investigating a suspicious transaction. We don't yet know how far he's willing to go."
Nina slid a printed page across the table.
It was a public building permit application for preliminary land surveying.
The applicant was Ridgeway Acreage LLC.
The project description referred to a proposed residential development.
But what caught Mason's attention was the contact name.
Not Martin Voss.
Not Daniel Whitmore.
Graham Bishop.
Mason frowned.
"Who's Graham Bishop?"
Nina looked at him.
"Claire's older brother."
The room seemed to shrink.
Mason stared at the name.
He had met Graham once at a holiday party. Claire had introduced him as a private investor working on opportunities in Connecticut.
Daniel had never mentioned that Graham had any interest in Briar Glen land.
Nina folded her hands.
"Now we have a documented connection."
May you like
Mason looked at the page again.
"And the man who wants Emma's meadow is her stepmother's brother."
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