Page 67 of The Billionaire's Royal Crown

Elena firmed her jaw. “We’re going to see if the camera has any evidence on it. And if it does, we’ll present it to the police. And if it doesn’t, we’ll at least present that the back door could have been open, and someone else may have slipped inside.”

Maddie’s lower lip quivered as she nodded. “Yeah.”

“Come along, Maddie, there is work to be done. Now is not the time to fall apart.”

Caroline kept an arm firmly around Maddie as she guided her upstairs. They snaked through the halls to Maddie’s room.

Elena pulled a pair of scissors from the pencil cup on Maddie’s desk and tore into the package, freeing the cord while Maddie retrieved her laptop.

“Okay,” the teen said, blowing out a shaky breath. “Put the big end in here, and the little end in the camera.”

Elena stuck the smaller silver prong into the camera and the larger one into Maddie’s laptop. She stared at the screen, her pulse quickening. “It’s not working. Nothing is happening.”

“We probably need to turn it on,” Maddie said as she fiddled with the camera, searching for a button.

She pressed a tiny black spot on the camera, flicked her gaze to the screen.

“Oh, no,” Elena said with a wrinkled nose. “Is it broken?”

Maddie pressed her lips together into a thin line as she mashed her finger onto the button and held it. A green light popped on, and a new window opened on her laptop.

Elena’s heart skipped a beat. “There.”

Maddie set the camera aside and flicked her finger against her mousepad. She clicked a few buttons before a sideways image of Elena appeared on the screen.

“There, you’ve done it.” Elena twisted the camera with a grin and a wave.

“Yeah, ummm…” Maddie glanced at the camera. “It’s showing you now, but…what about the stuff it already recorded?”

Maddie tapped around on her screen for a minute before she shook her head. “Dang it.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know how to get to the stored stuff. Maybe it’s in a cloud.”

“How do we get to the cloud?” Elena questioned.

“I don’t know. Like there may be some website that Chloe logged into to see her videos. But…I have no idea where it could be or what her login is.”

Elena collapsed onto the bed with a sigh. “Oh, no. Well, I wonder if the camera itself is enough to help your mother. Perhaps we should take it to the police. Maybe they would know.”

“But what if nothing is on it.” Maddie twisted to face her, a tear falling to her cheek. “What if it shows my mom…”

Elena leapt to her feet and threw her arms around the girl. “Oh, darling, I’m certain it doesn’t, though I do understand. Perhaps we can still figure out how to see this. Can we…search for the make or something?”

“Excellent idea, Your Highness.” Caroline shifted the laptop toward her and tapped on it. “I spotted these letters and numbers earlier, and I wonder if they are a model. I’ll search it along with the make.”

“Anything?” Elena asked as she stroked Maddie’s hair.

“Here, I’ve found it. I’m looking for an instruction manual.”

Elena held her breath, waiting as Caroline scanned the screen in search of what she sought.

“Got it!” Caroline exclaimed with a grin. “I’m downloading it now.”

After a few seconds, the document appeared in thedownloads list, and Caroline selected it to open. “Okay, setup information…”

“No, keep going,” Elena said.

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