Chapter 9: The Second Glass on Camera
I hadn't slept. I'd sat in the office after Elena left, watching the red light on the small camera I'd clipped to the bookshelf behind my desk. It was angled to catch the desk, the crystal glass, and the doorway. The feed ran to my laptop and to a backup drive in the safe. Lucia was with my sister across town. That was the deal I'd made with myself before I set this in motion.
Around nine the next morning, I texted Elena: please bring water at ten, same glass.
She answered after a minute. Understood.
At 9:54 I sat at the desk and hit record on both devices. My hands were steady but my mouth was dry. I loosened my collar and let my shoulders drop the way they had been dropping for weeks without me noticing. I pulled the leather-bound books closer, lined up the gold lion so its reflection caught the window light. I left the decoy glass centered on the mahogany exactly where Lucia had pointed. I didn't touch it.
In the kitchen down the hall, the other camera I'd hidden inside the pantry shelf was already running. I'd told Elena to act normal, to let whoever came in do what they were going to do. She didn't know where that camera was either. That was safer for her.
At 9:58 the kitchen door opened on the pantry feed. I watched it on my phone with the sound down.
It was Derek. He'd been my operations manager for three years, handled vendors, had keys to everything. He smiled when Elena turned from the sink.
"Morning," he said on the silent footage, his mouth forming the word. He was holding a small white envelope, the kind you'd use for a receipt.
Elena nodded and stepped back from the counter. She kept her hands folded in front of her apron. I could see her breathing.
Derek didn't waste time. He took the crystal glass from the drying rack, set it on the island, poured water from the filtered pitcher. His movements were casual, practiced. He glanced toward the hallway once, then tipped the envelope over the glass. A fine powder fell and dissolved. He stirred it once with his fingertip, wiped his finger on his pants, and slid the glass toward Elena.
On the video his lips moved again. I couldn't hear it on that feed but I read it later when I played it back with volume: "Marcus likes it cold, right? Take it in at ten sharp. He's got that signature to get to."
Elena picked up the glass with both hands. Her eyes didn't leave the water. Derek patted her shoulder as he passed her and left the frame.
I switched back to the office camera view. My watch said 10:00.
Elena knocked once and came in. She was carrying the glass the same way, both hands, careful not to spill. Her maid cap was straight, her face pale. She didn't look at the bookshelf where the camera was.
"Your water, sir," she said quietly.
I let my head tilt a little, let my eyelids droop. I had rehearsed looking tired but it wasn't hard. I hadn't slept and the memory of the last two weeks did the rest.
"Thanks, Elena," I said, my voice slower than usual. "Just set it there."
She placed the fresh glass next to the decoy I'd left out. Now there were two identical crystal glasses on the mahogany, both full, both clear. Only one had been on camera in the kitchen.
I reached for the new one, hesitated, let my tattooed hand hover over the rim the way it had yesterday. I rubbed my temple with the other hand.
"Long night," I mumbled. "I feel foggy again."
Elena's hands tightened on her apron. She glanced toward the door, then back at me. We'd rehearsed this line too.
"Do you want me to wait, sir?" she asked.
"No," I said, waving vaguely. "Go ahead. I'll drink in a minute. Close the door on your way."
She nodded and slipped out, shutting the office door softly behind her.
I didn't move for a full thirty seconds after she left. The office camera's red light held steady. Then I stood, lifted both glasses without touching the rims, and carried them to the side table where I'd left two evidence bags and a roll of tape.
I had bought the bags at a police supply store on the highway the afternoon before. I slipped each glass into its own bag, sealed them, wrote the time and date on the labels with a marker: 10:02 AM - Glass A (decoy/untouched) and 10:02 AM - Glass B (kitchen pour - Derek). My handwriting was messy but legible. I put both bags into the safe and locked it. The video files were already saving.
Elena came back three minutes later when I texted her. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it.
"Did you see?" she whispered.
"I saw," I said. I turned my laptop so she could see the kitchen footage frozen on Derek's hand over the glass. Her eyes filled.
"I told him you were still tired," she said quickly. "I did what you said. I acted like I was still doing what he wanted."
"You did exactly right," I said. "You're on video doing what you were told to do, and you're on video not touching anything else. That matters."
I hit save on the office footage and ejected the backup drive. I held it up so she could see.
"This stays with the glasses," I said. "No one touches it but us and the lab. You understand?"
She nodded, her breath coming fast. "Will he know?"
"Not yet," I said. "As far as Derek knows, I drank it and I'm fading. We keep it that way."
May you like
I locked the drive in the safe with the glasses and spun the dial. Two glasses preserved, two videos secured, and Elena standing in front of me now documented as cooperating, not conspiring.
Outside the tall windows, daylight was still bright on the parking lot. The office looked the same as yesterday, but the glass was no longer just a suspicion.
