Chapter 4 — The breeze catches the loose sheets and pulls them toward the metal file holder
Marcus stood up from the desk and walked toward the small hallway entrance.
The white dome of the security camera sat tucked into the corner of the ceiling.
It pointed directly down toward the dining room table and the edge of the study alcove.
“The power light is blinking,” Marcus noted.
“It should be recording on a continuous loop,” Vanessa said, following him closely.
Marcus reached for his phone on the kitchen counter to open the companion app.
He tapped the screen twice to bring up the live feed and the archived timeline.
“Let’s check the afternoon block,” Marcus said.
He scrolled backward through the digital timeline until he hit the three o’clock marker.
The video feed flickered and loaded the recorded footage from earlier that day.
On the small phone screen, the dining room table appeared crisp and well-lit by the sunlight.
Penny sat near the edge of the frame, quietly doing her homework.
Vanessa walked into the shot carrying the stack of school notices.
She placed them squarely on the center of the wooden table before walking back out of the camera’s view.
The electric fan on the side desk could be seen spinning in the background.
Marcus pressed play on the recorded segment.
The fan completed another slow oscillation to the left.
A sudden gust of air caught the corner of the top paper on the dining table.
The paper lifted off the surface and fluttered through the air.
It drifted sideways, crossing the small gap between the table and the desk alcove.
The document landed directly against the vertical metal dividers of the document holder.
The camera angle clearly captured the exact moment the metal teeth grabbed the moving sheet.
Marcus leaned closer to the screen to examine the timestamp displayed in the corner of the footage.
The digital numbers ticked upward as the paper pulled tighter into the sharp steel divider.