Chapter 4 — The Nanny’s Defensiveness — Then Kitchen Security Logs Show a Missing Fifteen-Minute Window
Martha gripped the edge of the grey sweater sleeves with both hands.
Her fingers twisted the fabric tight.
“I just picked up the bag from the floor,” Martha said quickly.
“The girls knocked it over while they were playing by the pantry.”
Sophie wiped a tear from her cheek and shook her head.
“We weren’t playing near the pantry,” Sophie said.
“The bag was already sitting on the counter when we came downstairs.”
Martha shot a sharp glance down at the young girl.
“You were playing in the hall, Sophie,” Martha said, her voice rising in pitch.
“You didn’t see where I found it.”
Clara ignored the bickering and set the grocery receipt down on the quartz countertop.
She walked over to the smart-home control panel mounted near the hallway door.
The glowing blue touchscreen controlled every security camera, door lock, and motion sensor in the house.
“Let’s see what the kitchen camera recorded,” Clara said.
Martha’s breathing instantly hitched.
“There’s no point in checking that old thing,” Martha said, her voice dropping lower.
“The system glitches every afternoon.”
Clara did not answer.
She tapped the icon for the interior camera log.
A list of system events scrolled down the screen in white text.
Clara scrolled back to two o’clock.
She tapped the playback button for the kitchen feed.
Instead of video playback, a system notification appeared in the center of the display.
Camera feed disabled via master console.
Clara frowned and tapped into the administrative details of the log.
The screen refreshed with a new set of data.
The camera feed had not glitched.
It had been manually toggled off from the physical tablet kept inside the pantry.
Clara turned away from the wall panel and looked directly at Martha.
“The security log shows the kitchen camera was turned off at one-fifty-five,” Clara said.
“The master tablet is the only way to do that.”
Clara stepped back toward the center of the kitchen island.
“Only you and I know the passcode to unlock that pantry tablet, Martha.”
Clara looked straight into Martha’s eyes.
“How did the camera turn off by itself?”
Martha did not answer.
Instead, her hands began to shake violently against the folds of her grey sweater.