Chapter 2 - Behind the Smoke DetectorI had seen my mother lie before.
Everyone had.
Little lies.
Convenient lies.
The kind people tell at Thanksgiving when someone asks who ate the last slice of pie.
This was different.
Linda wasn't lying to protect herself.
She was trying to calculate how much I already knew.
That scared me more than the camera.
I dragged her away from the hallway.
“You're going to tell me everything.”
She laughed once.
A brittle sound.
“You're being ridiculous.”
“Emily says there’s a camera in our bedroom.”
“She’s exhausted.”
“Then why did you run?”
Linda's eyes narrowed.
“Because she’s accusing me of something insane.”
Emily stood near the kitchen counter, holding the baby.
Her hands were shaking.
I looked at her.
“Where is it?”
She pointed.
“Above the bed.”
I walked into the bedroom.
The curtains were half closed.
The room looked normal.
Too normal.
Our bed.
The changing table.
The lamp Emily bought after we got married.
The framed ultrasound photo.
And the smoke detector mounted near the ceiling.
I stared at it.
Something about it looked wrong.
I pulled a chair beneath it.
“Daniel,” Emily said.
I climbed up.
The detector was slightly crooked.
I twisted the cover.
It came off.
My hands went cold.
Inside was a miniature black lens.
A memory card.
A tiny transmitter.
And a red light.
Blinking.
Still active.
Someone was watching us.
Right then.
I ripped it from the wall.
The red light went dark.
Behind me, Emily gasped.
I climbed down.
Linda was standing in the doorway.
She looked at the device.
Then at me.
“Who installed this?”
She said nothing.
“Mom.”
Nothing.
“Answer me.”
She shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
“I was trying to protect this family.”
“By spying on my wife?”
“You weren't listening to me.”
“To what?”
“That she wasn't safe.”
Emily stared at her.
“Safe from who?”
Linda looked directly at Emily.
Then she said something that made the blood drain from my face.
“From you.”
Emily froze.
“What?”
Linda's voice became calm.
“Your wife has been lying to you since before your son was born.”
I stared at my mother.
“About what?”
She stepped forward.
“You'll find out.”
She reached for the doorknob.
I blocked her.
“You're not leaving.”
She looked up at me.
“Daniel, you think this is about Emily.”
She paused.
“It isn't.”
She pointed toward the nursery.
“It's about your son.”
I felt something cold crawl through my chest.
“What does that mean?”
Linda's eyes filled with something that almost looked like pity.
“You should ask your wife where she was three nights before the baby was born.”
Emily's face went white.
I turned.
“Emily?”
She looked at the floor.
“Daniel…”
My mother's phone suddenly rang.
She checked the screen.
And whatever she saw made her expression change instantly.
She stepped backward.
“Who is it?” I asked.
Linda didn't answer.
The phone rang again.
Then a text appeared.
I saw only four words before she turned the screen away.
HE KNOWS ABOUT THE CAMERA.
Linda looked at me.
Not my eyes.
My hands.
Specifically the hand holding the camera.
May you like
Then she whispered:
“We were running out of time.”
