Chapter 7 - The Boy in Every Photograph
We went through Violet's photos.
Caleb was everywhere.
Football games.
School dances.
Group projects.
Birthday parties.
Always in the background.
Always close enough.
Violet had never suspected him because Caleb had built himself into her social circle long before she discovered Rachel's evidence.
Victor had planned ahead.
When Caleb realized Violet was investigating his father, he reported it.
Then he began watching her.
He learned the alarm code by observing Harper.
He used Harper's Wi-Fi while attending a study session.
He created user four.
The attack hadn't been random.
It had been planned from inside Violet's own circle.
Police searched Caleb's home.
Empty.
Victor and Caleb were gone.
But the search uncovered dozens of photographs.
Violet.
Harper.
Me.
Our house.
Our schedules.
Even screenshots from my deployment announcements.
Victor knew when I was overseas.
He believed he had chosen the perfect week.
My early return destroyed his timetable.
Then investigators discovered another folder.
Inside were photographs of other families.
Other teenagers.
Other houses.
This wasn't only about Violet.
Victor had been using young people—including Caleb—to gain access to homes.
The case exploded.
Federal investigators arrived.
News vans surrounded the courthouse.
Families began calling police.
One.
Then five.
Then twenty.
Victor Hale's secret empire began collapsing because one sixteen-year-old girl had hidden a flash drive in her backpack.
But Victor still had one advantage.
He knew Rachel had turned against him.
And he knew exactly where Harper lived.
At 11:17 that night, Harper's security camera went dark.
Thirty seconds later, my phone rang.
May you like
Harper whispered:
“Daniel… someone's downstairs.”
