Chapter 6: The Route the Phone Remembered
I kept the phone pointed at Madison as she moved away from the foyer. I held it with both hands, just as I had when she pushed Mommy. The black case pressed into my palms, and the screen showed her crimson pantsuit in a shaking rectangle. Whenever my arms dipped, I lifted them again. I was afraid that if I stopped recording, the truth might disappear.
Madison walked toward the grand staircase without looking back. She did not hurry, but her shoulders were tight, and one hand stayed close to her side. The water from the overturned bucket still spread across the marble behind me. Mommy remained near it, one hand braced against the floor and the blood at the corner of her lip bright against her skin.
Ethan stayed with her.
He crouched beside Mommy, keeping one hand near her shoulder without touching until she allowed it. His dark head turned between us. He watched Madison, then looked at me, then back at Madison. He did not follow right away. That was his choice: to keep Mommy in sight while Madison opened the distance.
I moved after Madison.
My shoes made small sounds on the marble. I tried to step where the floor was dry, but my legs felt unsteady, and the phone shook harder. Madison reached the first step and paused. Her face was turned toward the upper part of the mansion, but her eyes moved along the wall beside the staircase.
I remembered the recording.
The phone had caught her there before the push. Not only her hand striking Mommy, but Madison bending close to the wall, searching with quick, careful movements. She had looked beneath the edge of the stairs, then along the wood and marble as if she expected something to be hidden there. I had not understood what she wanted then. I understood enough now to follow.
Madison climbed three steps.
I stopped below her, leaving space between us. The staircase rose above me, wide and pale, and Madison stood where she could see both the foyer and the upper landing. From there, she could watch Ethan and Mommy while keeping herself near the place she had searched.
The phone recorded her again.
She glanced over her shoulder. I lowered my face but kept the lens aimed at her. My finger stayed against the side of the phone. The little red mark on the screen remained visible. It made my stomach hurt, but I did not let go.
Ethan noticed. He shifted Mommy slightly away from the wet marble, keeping her beside the bottom of the staircase instead of leaving her alone. His attention never fully left Madison. Mommy's eyes met mine for only a moment. She looked frightened, but she did not reach for me. I could tell she wanted me to stay back.
Madison descended one step, then crossed toward the wall beneath the staircase. Her movements became more familiar there. She touched the trim, lifted her hand, and pressed along a narrow section near the floor. She tested another place, then another. Each motion appeared in the phone's screen and matched the earlier recording.
The distance between the old search and the new one became impossible to ignore.
Madison looked toward Ethan. He was still helping Mommy remain upright. That gave Madison the opening she had been waiting for. She turned back to the wall and crouched, blocking part of it with her body.
I backed up one step and kept filming.
The phone captured her hand disappearing beneath the edge of the staircase. It captured the sudden tension in her shoulders and the way she froze when something resisted her fingers. It captured the place she had come for before Ethan could reach her.
Behind me, Ethan began moving away from Mommy.
May you like
Madison's hand pulled against the hidden space.
The recording continued as she reached the document-search area, and Ethan closed the distance.
