Chapter 7 - Charles Reed
Charles looked older but unmistakable.
Sixty-three.
Gray beard.
Same measured voice Ethan remembered.
He admitted installing independent camera two years earlier.
Thomas’s estate memorandum authorized it.
Purpose:
detect unauthorized access to Margaret’s study and preserve footage outside Bennett household system.
Why secret from Ethan?
Thomas instructed residence trustee, not Ethan personally, due concern Ethan might remove “paranoid old surveillance.”
Samuel’s credential was used because Charles submitted paper authorization through trust administrator.
Samuel's staff processed.
So no forged signature necessarily.
Eleanor’s name on Northgate order?
Charles filled authorization contact because she managed residence trust operations.
He should have told her.
He didn't.
Poor process.
But who used camera now?
Charles maintained remote admin access.
Yesterday someone changed password and locked him out.
Before lockout, he saw Claire and Sarah meet.
He planned contact Ethan.
Then lost access.
Did he rotate camera earlier?
Yes.
Sometimes remotely to test.
Did he speak:
“Ethan finally looked up”?
“No.”
Voice wasn't him.
Maya compared.
Different.
Could be distorted, but Charles denied.
Who knew credentials?
Charles.
Northgate supervisor.
One former technician:
Peter Lang.
Peter had worked Bennett mansion renovations.
Ethan knew name.
Peter was current head of household security vendor.
Why hadn't official team found independent camera?
Maybe he deliberately excluded.
Peter was summoned.
He denied.
Technical logs showed remote access originated from Bennett mansion’s own network, not outside.
Someone inside house controlled camera during assault.
Who was inside?
Ethan.
Claire.
Eleanor.
Two housekeepers.
Chef.
Peter’s security guard in rear office.
Security guard:
Daniel Cross, thirty-four.
He denied.
But network device traced to small control tablet hidden in pantry.
Fingerprints:
Eleanor.
Claire.
Housekeeper Anna.
Common because tablet originally used for lighting? Maybe.
Eleanor admitted she had found tablet two months earlier and tested camera.
“So you could control it.”
“Yes.”
“Did you today?”
“No.”
“Why say ‘camera isn’t yours’?”
“Because I knew Charles installed it through Thomas instruction.”
“Why keep that from Ethan?”
“Thomas told me not to discuss until red file appeared.”
Circular secrecy.
Then Claire admitted touching tablet this morning while tracing camera.
Could she rotate it?
“I didn't know how.”
Logs showed controller activated during assault by user:
MARGARET.
Margaret dead.
Legacy profile.
Anyone could select.
Then one housekeeper, Anna, remembered Peter used tablet last week.
Peter lied.
Confronted, he said he was troubleshooting lighting.
But tablet logs showed camera menu opened.
Why?
“Because Mrs. Bennett asked me.”
Which Mrs. Bennett?
Emma? Ethan married? We haven't mentioned wife. Could be Sarah? Better no.
Peter meant Margaret Bennett years ago? impossible.
He corrected:
“Eleanor asked me.”
Eleanor denied.
Peter produced text.
FROM: ELEANOR HALE
CHECK CAMERA. RED FILE MAY BE BACK.
Eleanor's phone showed no sent message.
Spoofed/fake contact? Could be someone saved under her name. Better Peter received from unknown number with signature “Eleanor”. He assumed.
Weak.
Then Peter admitted he had accessed camera using credentials Charles gave security company years ago.
He saw foyer recordings.
Including something from three weeks earlier.
Eleanor entering study alone.
Claire not present.
Sarah not present.
Eleanor opened red file.
Then she cried.
Why?
Because inside was photograph she thought destroyed.
Peter copied it.
He showed Ethan.
Photograph from 1998.
Margaret Bennett.
Thomas Bennett.
Charles Reed.
And a teenage girl.
Claire’s mother.
Michael Morgan’s wife, Diane Morgan.
On back:
DIANE KNOWS ABOUT ROOM 3.
Claire whispered:
“My mother died when I was ten.”
Documented cancer.
No murder.
What was Room 3?
Eleanor sat down.
“That’s what Margaret spent twenty years hiding.”
Camera mystery now reached deeper than fraud.
But Charles shook head.
“Room 3 has nothing to do with who took camera today.”
“Then who did?”
Charles looked at Peter.
May you like
“Ask him who Margaret left the second remote to.”
Peter went pale.
