Chapter 2 - THE FALL
Daniel shoved Claire with both hands.
Hard.
Direct.
Claire’s back struck the railing.
The wooden rail creaked.
Her balance vanished.
“Daniel!”
For one impossible second, Claire saw his face clearly.
No surprise.
No accidental panic.
Only rage.
Then she tipped backward.
Her hands reached for the rail.
Missed.
Time seemed to stretch.
The open living room dropped beneath her.
Daniel remained above.
Claire’s breath tore from her.
“I gave you everything…”
The words left her before she understood she was speaking.
She fell farther.
Faces below began turning upward.
“Everything I had…”
Daniel gripped the railing.
Still watching.
Claire’s fear changed into something colder.
“And this is how you treat me?!”
Then the floor rushed toward her.
Normal speed returned in a violent instant.
Claire hit the polished wood.
A massive thud tore through the room.
Chairs scraped.
Someone screamed.
“Oh my God!”
Relatives rushed toward her.
Claire could hear them.
She could not answer at first.
Her body hurt everywhere, but she remained conscious.
Daniel finally came running down the stairs.
Too late.
Margaret reached Claire first.
“Don’t move her!”
Someone called 911.
Claire looked toward Daniel.
He dropped beside her.
His expression had transformed.
Panic.
Concern.
Performance.
“She slipped,” he said.
Claire stared at him.
He continued quickly.
“She leaned back against the railing and it gave way.”
Claire tried to speak.
Pain cut through her breath.
Margaret grabbed Daniel’s arm.
“Don’t say anything else.”
Claire heard that.
So did one other person.
Daniel’s cousin, Rebecca Lane.
Rebecca had been standing nearest the staircase.
She looked from Margaret to Daniel.
Then at Claire.
Something in her expression changed.
Paramedics arrived within minutes.
Claire was transferred carefully to a stretcher.
She had no broken bones, but severe bruising, a concussion, and a shoulder injury.
Daniel tried to ride with her.
Claire whispered one word.
“No.”
The paramedic looked at him.
Daniel stepped back.
At the hospital, police interviewed Claire.
She said Daniel pushed her.
Daniel told them she slipped.
Several relatives claimed they only saw the fall, not the shove.
Margaret said Claire and Daniel had been arguing but insisted Daniel never touched her.
Then the detective asked about the lake house security cameras.
Claire almost smiled.
Daniel had installed them himself.
The second-floor hallway had one.
Margaret answered before he could.
“That camera has been broken for weeks.”
The detective requested the system anyway.
Daniel agreed immediately.
Too immediately.
Hours later, the police called Claire’s attorney.
The hallway camera contained no footage.
Not because it was broken.
May you like
Because the previous four hours had been manually deleted.
And the deletion had been authorized from Claire’s own phone.
