Chapter 3: The Name on the Document
Officer Reyes — the woman — was the one who stayed close.
While her partner kept Zachary and Brenda in the living room, she followed me into the kitchen and watched me scroll through the footage without saying a word.
I found the clip from three weeks before the wedding.
I pressed play.
We both watched Brenda move through my apartment like she owned it.
Pulling open the filing cabinet beside my desk.
Lifting folders.
Holding pages up to the light from the window.
Zachary stood near the door, checking his phone.
Then Brenda's voice came through the speaker, clear and unhurried.
"Once they're married, we move forward with the property transfer.
She won't even see it coming."
Officer Reyes didn't react immediately.
She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small notepad.
"Who was she talking to?"
"I don't know yet."
"How long has that camera been installed?"
"Since I moved in.
Eight months ago."
She wrote something down.
"Is this the only clip like this?"
I scrolled further.
There were four more files from the same week.
I opened the next one.
This time Zachary was alone.
He was at my desk, photographing documents with his phone.
Page by page.
Slowly.
Carefully.
I recognized the papers immediately.
The deed.
My parents' original purchase agreement.
The title insurance policy.
My throat tightened.
"He was copying my property documents."
Officer Reyes leaned in slightly.
"Before the wedding."
"Three weeks before."
She tapped her pen against the notepad once, then looked toward the living room doorway.
"Ms.
Charlotte, I need you to keep this footage exactly as it is.
Don't delete anything.
Don't transfer it.
Don't show it to anyone except an attorney or law enforcement."
"What are they trying to do?"
She chose her words carefully.
"Based on what I'm seeing, it appears someone may have been preparing to make a legal claim against this property.
Whether that's fraud, forgery, or something else — that's not my determination to make today."
From the living room, Brenda's voice carried through the wall.
"How much longer is this going to take?
My son did nothing wrong.
She's the one who attacked him."
I looked at Officer Reyes.
She looked back at me.
"I'm going to need both of them to come to the station for formal statements," she said.
"And I'm going to need you to come as well — separately."
She walked back toward the living room.
I followed.
Zachary was standing near the window with his arms crossed, performing calm.
Brenda had found a chair and was sitting with her hands folded in her lap like a woman at church.
"We're happy to cooperate," Zachary said before anyone spoke.
"We have nothing to hide."
I set my phone on the kitchen counter, screen down.
"Good," I said.
"Then you won't mind explaining why you were photographing my property deed three weeks before our wedding."
The room went very quiet.
Brenda's hands unfolded in her lap.
Zachary's eyes moved to my phone and stayed there.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"The camera does."
He took one step toward me.
Officer Reyes moved between us without raising her voice.
"Sir.
Step back, please."
Zachary stopped.
His jaw worked like he was chewing on something he couldn't swallow.
Brenda stood up slowly.
When she spoke, her voice had dropped to something lower and harder than anything she'd used that morning.
"You think a little home camera is going to be enough?
You have no idea what's already been filed."
The male officer looked up from his notepad.
I felt the floor shift slightly under me.
"What do you mean, already been filed?"
Brenda smiled.
May you like
It was the first genuine smile I had seen from her all morning.
She didn't answer.
