She Discovered Too Late novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Made on a Laptop

On my second night at the house, Miriam finally came home in time for dinner.

The family lawyer was there too. He had handled my father's will and my mother's trust, and he looked at my cane and then at his plate.

The housekeeper brought out a roast and left us.

Colby sat at Miriam's right. I sat across from them with Arlene in the chair beside me, because I had told Miriam the nurse eats where I eat.

For ten minutes everyone talked about the weather.

Then I took my phone out of my coat pocket and propped it against the water pitcher.

"I want you to watch something," I said.

"At the table?" Miriam said.

"You said you'd listen for ten days. This is the listening."

She set down her fork. Colby did not move at all.

I pressed play.

The first clip came from a camera over a dormitory hallway. It showed my backpack on a desk, and a hand unzipping the front pocket.

The hand took out my phone.

The camera angle changed. Colby's face looked down at my screen in the glow of a desk lamp, and he began to type.

Miriam leaned forward.

The second clip was an exam office, a stack of papers and the back of a boy bent over my desk, turning pages.

Nobody spoke while it played. The roast went cold between us.

The third clip was a stairwell. I did not let it finish.

"That's a copy," I said. "Teddy has the originals."

Colby's eyes flicked to me and away.

Miriam sat back. She looked at the screen for a long moment.

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