Chapter 7: The Lamp

The camera sits in my palm, no bigger than a button.

The red light has stopped blinking.

I don't know if that's because I pulled it or because someone on the other end just saw my face.

I walk down the hall holding it out in front of me.

Damien's study door is open.

He looks up from a phone call, sees what's in my hand, and ends the call mid-word.

"Where was it?"

"In the lamp. By the bed."

He crosses the room in two steps and takes it from me by the edges.

His face goes flat and white.

"Who has been in that room?"

"I don't know. It's your house."

"Housekeeper. Two cleaners. The man who serviced the wiring last month."

He walks past me into the hall and raises his voice.

"Everyone on this floor. Now."

His voice carries down the stairs.

"Clear the house. Nobody leaves, nobody enters. Call the security firm."

"Damien."

"Stay with your sister."

"No."

He turns.

"I want to see the staff," I say. "All of them. Before you do anything."

"Ava, this is a security matter."

"It's my bedroom. Somebody watched me change out of my scrubs."

His mouth tightens.

He doesn't argue.

They gather in the front hall in under five minutes.

The housekeeper in the gray cardigan. Two cleaners with their sleeves still rolled. A gardener who smells of cut grass.

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