Page 27 of The Grave Robber

He unfolded himself from the chair, but before he could leadthe way, I took his phone out of his hands and put it alongside mine on hisdesk. I reassured him with yet another nod, and he led me through the house,down a narrow set of stairs, and into a dimly lit basement. The walls were madeof stone, with row after row of wine bottles and a huge walk-in cooler.

Sure enough, one killer wine cellar, as ordered. And thewalk-in cooler was like a birthday present I never saw coming.

I pulled the massive steel door open and gestured for Donaldto follow me. Once the door closed, I lowered my voice and asked him, “Therearen’t any cameras in here, right?”

He shook his head.

After scanning the area to double-check, I turned back. “Wecan’t be certain it’s not bugged, but I would be surprised if it were.”

“Bugged?” he asked.

“Let’s keep our voices as low as possible, just in case.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Before we get to that,” I said, speaking as softly as Icould, “the video you showed me is about as fake as my membership card to theYacht Club.”

He took a long moment to study me, size me up, and decide ifhe should believe anything coming out of my mouth. If we hadn’t been able tosave Zachary’s life today, I think he would’ve kicked me out on my ear. Butthat, along with Jason’s endorsement, was enough to keep his skepticism at bay.For the moment. “How do you know?”

“First, every event was perfectly framed. Nothing happenedout of the camera’s field of view. Almost as if it were staged.”

He seemed to think back and then agreed with a nod.

“Second, Halle never woke up. She never flinched. Herbreathing never wavered.”

“W–wait,” he said, struggling to form the words he didn’twant to speak. “Do you think Halle was drugged?”

“I do. And third, there were no departed in the room.”

He shook his head, trying to process everything I was saying.“How can you know that?”

“My ability allows me to see the departed on film, indigital recordings, Polaroids, pretty much anything. They look just likeeveryone else to me, only a little blurrier, and the colors aren’t quite asvibrant. But who knows? My new reality defies the laws of physics and rarelymakes sense. Especially to me. Maybe different kinds of recordings—”

“No. No, I think you’re right.”

“Why?”

“It was just strange how he came to us with the so-calledevidence. I mean, why was he looking at recordings of her in the first place?They were there only if we needed to review something.”

I could tell his mind was racing, connecting the dots asthey appeared.

“And one reason it took so long for us to believe Halle wasthat every time she told us a glass broke or a cabinet door slammed, there wasnothing on the video to prove it. I slowly began to realize the videos Paulshowed us, the ones with nothing on them whatsoever, were the same. Her blenderalways in the same spot. Her fruit basket always filled with the same fruit.”

“Paul is your head of security?”

“Yes. Paul Meacham. But the videos he showed us changed,just when I became suspicious. Different placement. Different fruit. Until,eventually, Halle gave up. She stopped telling us when things happened. Shestopped trusting us completely.” A sob shook his shoulders again.

“If my instincts are correct, and they always are, your headof security has been terrorizing your daughter for seventeen years.”

He pressed a hand to his mouth and stumbled back against awine rack, the shock weakening his legs. It was about to get worse.

“Donald, I hate to ask this”—and I really did—“but do youthink your wife grew suspicious of him?”

He stilled, and the blood drained from his face as hethought back. “No,” he whispered, but it was an expression of denial. Simplytoo much for him to process. “Please, no. Why would he do that? Why would he doany of this?”

“I don’t know, but I think Halle does.” When he only gapedat me, I explained. “She knows more than she’s letting on. I’m not saying shesuspects your head of security, but something definitely happened to herseventeen years ago, and we need to find out what it was.”

Another sob racked his body, and I let his emotion take overfor a few minutes before continuing with my plan.

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