“Be very careful.”
Marcus’s body camera was already recording.
The worker looked at it.
Then he looked at Mia being lifted onto a stretcher.
“You gave me this money,” he said.
“You told me I didn’t see anything.”
The second worker spoke too.
“He did.”
Richard turned on both of them.
“You accepted it.”
It was the worst possible answer.
Not a denial.
An admission wrapped in accusation.
Marcus said nothing.
He didn’t need to.
The workers did.
The first man began talking quickly now, as if every word could put distance between himself and what he had done.
He described hearing Mia scream.
He described starting toward the lake.
He described Richard stepping into his path and producing cash.
He described Justin standing over Mia while she clung to the ice.
The second worker confirmed it.
Brad’s mouth tightened.
“They’re lying because they’re scared.”
Then a voice came from behind him.
“Your phone isn’t.”
One of Marcus’s technicians had positioned a camera several feet away to document the scene and Brad’s untouched device while they waited for law enforcement.
Nobody had opened it.
Nobody needed to.
Brad’s own livestream had already created witnesses.
Comments, reposts and screen recordings had begun spreading before the signal cut.
Marcus explained that fact without triumph.
“Anything already transmitted may exist on servers and viewers’ devices.
Deleting your copy won’t erase theirs.”
Brad looked at his father.
For the first time since Mia went into the water, he looked afraid.
Richard grabbed his son’s sleeve and pulled him close.
“Say nothing else.”
Justin, still sitting near the dock with his injured leg wrapped, shouted, “She stabbed me! Why is nobody arresting her?”
Marcus glanced toward me.
I forced myself to remember every second.
“He was using the boat hook to push us away from the edge.
Mia was losing her grip.
I struck his leg with broken ice so I could reach her.”
Justin laughed harshly.
“That’s not what happened.”
A resort security camera above the equipment shed pointed toward the lake.
Marcus noticed it at the same moment I did.
So did Richard.
His head snapped toward the resort manager.
“Turn that system off.”
The words left his mouth before he could stop them.
Nobody moved.
Marcus looked at Richard.
“You may want to stop giving people instructions about evidence.”
Richard’s face went grey.
