PART 12
Investigators sought evidence from the Prescott property through lawful
process.
The family initially said a portion of the guest-house system had
malfunctioned.
That could have been true.
Then the security contractor produced service records showing the
cameras had been functioning two days earlier.
Still not proof.
Next came cloud-account logs.
The system uploaded motion events remotely.
Someone with administrator credentials had accessed the account after
Emily left the property.
Several clips had been deleted.
Deletion alone did not prove what the clips contained.
But now there was another question.
Who deleted them?
PART 13
The answer was not immediate.
The administrator account was registered to Prescott Residential
Management, the family company that maintained several properties.
Three people had credentials.
Ethan.
Brandon.
The estate security manager.
Margaret did not.
At least not officially.
Forensic specialists began examining available logs.
I knew enough from military investigations to understand the danger of
wanting the evidence to move faster than it could.
Patience is easy when the facts do not involve your child.
I learned a new kind of discipline.
PART 14
The housekeeper who had helped Emily was named Rosa Alvarez.
For two days nobody could reach her.
Margaret’s attorney suggested she had gone on vacation.
Emily panicked.
“They got to her.”
“Maybe,” I said.
“Mom.”
“We don’t know.”
I hated saying it.
But fear was not evidence.
On the third day Rosa contacted investigators through an attorney.
She had not disappeared.
She was scared.
There was a difference.
