Chapter 10 - Ethan Had Been Watching All of Them
Detective Bell asked Ethan a question no one else had asked.
“Why did you hire Gabriel Price before the medication reappeared?”
Ethan looked at her.
“I told you. Things were happening in the house.”
“No. Your contract with him started six weeks ago.”
Emma’s face tightened.
That was before she placed the old medication bottle in the bathroom.
Before Grace ordered the refill.
Before the staged collapse.
“What happened six weeks ago?” Bell asked.
Ethan remained silent.
Eleanor answered for him.
“Emma fainted at dinner.”
Emma looked at her.
It had seemed insignificant.
A hot room.
Pregnancy.
A long day.
She recovered within minutes.
But Eleanor had panicked.
Ethan had not.
He told everyone Emma needed rest.
The following morning, Ethan quietly sent the remains of Emma’s meal for private testing.
Emma stared.
“You tested my food?”
“I was scared.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because the result was normal.”
Bell asked:
“And then?”
“Two weeks later she got sick again.”
Again, the food showed nothing concerning.
Then Ethan found one of Emma’s kitchen containers in the trash despite knowing it had been new.
He began suspecting someone was moving things.
So he hired Gabriel.
Not to investigate Emma specifically.
Everyone.
Grace.
Eleanor.
Rosa.
Even Ethan’s own routines.
Emma sat back.
“You turned our home into surveillance without telling me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Eleanor laughed bitterly.
The exact phrase she had used to justify everything.
Ethan heard it too.
His face changed.
Bell looked at him.
“What did your investigator actually find?”
Ethan reluctantly opened a private folder.
The photographs told no clean story.
Eleanor entering the pantry repeatedly.
Emma throwing a small bag into the outside trash.
Grace photographing Eleanor.
Rosa collecting medication.
Lily passing notes beneath Grace’s guest-room door.
And Ethan himself hiding the bottle.
Every person could be made to look guilty depending on which image came first.
Emma said:
“This is insane.”
Bell disagreed.
“No. It’s useful.”
“How?”
“Because someone may have known Gabriel was watching.”
Ethan froze.
Only three people knew about the investigator.
Ethan.
Gabriel.
And—
Grace.
Ethan had told his sister after she expressed concern about Eleanor.
Emma turned toward Grace.
“You knew?”
Grace nodded reluctantly.
“How long?”
“About a month.”
Bell asked:
“Did Eleanor know?”
“No.”
“Emma?”
“No.”
“Rosa?”
“No.”
“Lily?”
“No.”
That meant Grace knew cameras and photographs were documenting movement around the house.
If she wanted to frame someone, she also knew how easily ordinary behavior could become evidence.
Grace stood.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
Bell replied:
“I haven’t told you what I’m thinking.”
“You think I built this.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Grace looked at Emma.
“I pushed you because I thought Mother was repeating the past.”
Then at Eleanor.
“I followed you because I didn’t trust you.”
Then at Ethan.
“And I knew you’d never act unless something undeniable happened.”
That sentence echoed one of her messages.
If he sees it himself, he’ll finally choose you.
Bell asked:
“Did you know Emma planned to fake the collapse?”
Grace shook her head.
Emma watched her carefully.
Then Lily, who had been drawing at the far side of the room, said:
“Yes, she did.”
Everyone turned.
Grace looked horrified.
“Lily…”
Lily pointed at her.
“You said Mommy had to fall down when Daddy came home.”
Emma stared at Grace.
Grace shook her head violently.
“I never said that.”
Lily frowned.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“In the car.”
“I haven’t driven you anywhere alone in weeks.”
Lily’s certainty weakened.
Ethan crouched beside her.
“Sweetheart, think carefully. Who said it?”
Lily squeezed her eyes shut.
Then whispered:
“I don’t know.”
Bell did not push.
Children merge conversations.
Adults do too.
But that evening Lily brought Ethan a drawing.
Four figures.
Emma on the sofa.
Eleanor beside her.
Lily near the cabinet.
Ethan at the door.
And one fifth person.
Drawn behind the wall.
A woman.
Ethan asked who it was.
Lily pointed.
“Aunt Grace.”
Grace had not been in the living room.
May you like
According to everyone.
Yet Lily had drawn her there.
