Chapter 7 - What the Camera Saw
Ben didn't reach for Malik's paper. “You expect me to trust another guy who works for Victor?”
“No,” Malik said. “That's why I came without him.”
Mrs. Alvarez had saved a copy of the warehouse camera footage after she heard Victor order the overnight shift to delete the incident from the daily report. It was routine protection for herself, she told Sal when the three men met her the next morning. She didn't intend to become a witness in somebody else's family war.
“You've got employees who need paychecks,” she said, standing beside a vending machine at the warehouse. “I have a mortgage.”
Sal started to say she would be protected. He stopped. His promises had not been worth much lately.
“Don't give it to me,” he said. “Give it to Ben's attorney. Or to the police if they ask.”
Ben exchanged a look with Malik. Neither had expected the old man to say that.
Alvarez opened her laptop where they could all see. The clip showed Ben arriving in the white truck, a guard opening the gate, then Victor's car pulling in behind him. Two men stood in front of the exit. There was no shove or weapon, but when Ben stepped around them toward his truck, one followed and blocked the driver's door. The footage had no audio.
“That's enough to prove they wouldn't let me leave with it,” Ben said.
“It's enough to ask questions,” Alvarez corrected. “It doesn't tell anybody what was said.”
Ben's lawyer, whom they called from the parking lot, advised him to preserve the recording, gather the notices, and make a police report describing the incident without claiming to know other people's motives. He also offered to send a formal demand to the property company. The company’s attorney confirmed in writing that the threatened sale would not go forward while the ownership and fees were disputed.
Nora arrived after school pickup and found Ben still on the phone. When he told her Malik had come forward, she looked at the big security guard with an expression he couldn't read.
“You were there when she cried,” Nora said.
“I know.”
“She asked you to watch her.”
“I know that too.”
Malik could have walked away. Instead he stood still until Nora turned to leave.
That afternoon, Ben gave a police officer his account, the notice, and the video copy through his attorney. The officer took a report but made no promise about charges; the conflicting claims over the truck would need more work.
At home, Rosie was drawing a picture of Captain Sunday beside a blue door. She had given the teddy long arms and a red cape. Ben taped it to the refrigerator. Nora watched him smooth the corners, then said something she had avoided since Monday night.
“I didn't just make one bad call,” she told him. “I thought if I fixed the truck without telling you, you'd stop looking so worried when you came home.”
Ben folded the empty tape backing into a tiny square. “I'd rather be worried with you.”
That evening, the warehouse attorney received the demand letter. Victor read it in his car, then called Sal.
“You're helping them build a case against our own company?”
Sal answered, “I helped create the problem. I'm not going to hide what the camera shows.”
May you like
Victor's voice dropped. “Then you ought to remember how much else those cameras have seen.”
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