The next morning, Margarethe sat in the holding cell, her eyes red and swollen. The door opened again, but this time Laura entered with an intense, focused look on her face. She pulled out a notepad filled with scribbled notes and a printed sheet of financial documents.
Laura: Margarethe, I stayed up all night digging into the Vance family records. Something doesn't add up about this entire situation.
Margarethe: What do you mean? Did you find anything about the camera?
Laura: Not yet. Marcus’s private security team is refusing to hand over the server logs without a court subpoena, which I’m filing today. But I found something else. Did you know Evelyn Vance is not the biological mother of baby Lily?
Margarethe: What? She told me she took a six-month maternity leave!
Laura: It was a private surrogate arrangement finalized in Georgia six months ago. But here’s the kicker: Marcus Vance signed a strict prenuptial agreement three years ago. If they divorce, Evelyn gets nothing—unless they have a living biological or legally adopted child together.
Margarethe: If they have a child, she gets access to his estate?
Laura: Exactly. A multi-million-dollar trust fund was opened in Lily’s name last month, with Evelyn named as the sole trustee if Marcus passes away or if they separate. Furthermore, I spoke with a former nanny who worked for them last month.
Margarethe: What did she say?
Laura: She quit because she noticed Evelyn acting strangely around the baby. Evelyn treated the child like an obstacle, not a daughter. The nanny claimed Evelyn once left the nursery window wide open during a freezing storm.
Margarethe: Oh my God... So yesterday wasn't an accident?
Laura: I think Evelyn purposefully put that child near the balcony opening, expecting an accident to happen so she could claim a massive insurance payout and trust control, or frame someone else when it went wrong. When you caught the baby, you ruined her plan.
Margarethe: She screamed accusing me so Marcus wouldn't ask why the baby was near the balcony in the first place!
Laura: Exactly. She flipped the script on you instantly. But we have a huge problem. Marcus is funding a massive legal team for his wife. They’re erasing every trace of evidence from that house as we speak.
Margarethe: Wait... the smart nursery monitor!
Laura: What smart nursery monitor?
Margarethe: Evelyn installed a cloud-connected baby monitor in Lily’s room two weeks ago! It’s an independent system connected to a mobile app on Evelyn’s phone, not the main house security server!
Laura: Does it record audio?
Margarethe: It records 24/7 video and audio of the entire second-floor hallway outside the nursery! The wide-angle lens points directly at the balcony railing!
Laura: Margarethe, if that camera caught the moment the baby slipped, it proves you were downstairs when it happened and that Evelyn was standing right beside the child!
Margarethe: But Evelyn has the phone. She’ll delete the app before anyone can search it!
Laura: Not if I get an emergency search warrant from Judge Miller in thirty minutes. Hold tight, Margarethe. We’re about to turn the tables.
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