Chapter 6 — Staring at the playback in disbelief — Then realizing everything was captured on camera
David stared at the screen as the playback advanced.
Every action Maya took earlier in the evening was visible in crisp high definition.
The grainy video showed her walking briskly between the clothing racks at past one in the morning.
She carried a stack of heavy velvet gowns with careful precision.
Her hands moved methodically over the garment tags.
Every motion matched the exact timeline she had defended to them moments ago.
The claim that the camera was turned off was proven completely false.
The lens above their heads had recorded the entire sequence without a single interruption.
Grant squinted at the monitor.
Look at her hands, Grant muttered.
She really was sorting every single tag.
David did not reply.
His gaze remained locked on the glowing display.
The video evidence invalidated every single instruction given to Maya that night.
The rule requiring the costume to stay inside the locked metal locker suddenly lost all administrative weight.
If the supervisor had lied about the camera being disabled, the other directives became deeply suspect.
David reached out and pressed the pause button on the keyboard.
The playback froze on an image of Maya pointing directly up at the dark lens.
The timestamp flashed red in the corner of the frame.
David clicked the mouse to expand the directory properties panel.
A new digital log file appeared on the monitor showing who accessed the camera settings earlier that evening.