Valerie suddenly stepped forward.
“That video is manipulated.”
Ellison raised one hand.
“Stay back.”
“He edits videos!”
Daniel opened the second clip.
Garage camera.
Higher perspective.
Same result.
Valerie approached.
Daniel retreated.
She struck herself against the truck.
Then accused him.
Ellison's face became unreadable.
Valerie pointed toward Daniel.
“He planned this!”
Daniel finally looked at her.
“How?”
“You knew I was coming.”
“No.”
“You set the cameras.”
“They've been installed for weeks.”
“You wanted this.”
Daniel laughed once.
He shouldn't have.
But the accusation had crossed into absurdity.
Valerie seized on it.
“Look! He's laughing!”
Ellison turned.
“Mr. Carter.”
Daniel nodded.
“Understood.”
Silence again.
Then something happened none of them expected.
A third vehicle arrived.
Black sheriff’s SUV.
No emergency lights.
It pulled to the curb.
Valerie’s face brightened.
Daniel did not recognize the vehicle immediately.
The driver’s window lowered.
Sheriff Robert Hale sat behind the wheel.
Sixty-one.
Gray hair.
Uniform.
Daniel knew him well.
Too well for this to be comfortable.
Sheriff Hale had served twenty-two years in the Army before entering law enforcement.
Daniel had met him during a veterans-housing project.
More importantly, Hale lived three streets away.
Valerie knew that too.
She straightened.
Finally.
Someone important.
“Sheriff!”
Hale stepped out.
Valerie moved toward him.
“Thank God.”
He did not answer her.
He walked directly toward Ellison.
“What do you have?”
“Reported assault.”
“Evidence?”
“Conflicting witness angle.”
“Two security videos contradict the complainant.”
Hale glanced toward Daniel.
Then Valerie.
“Any injuries?”
“Shoulder complaint.”
Hale nodded.
Then surprised everyone.
“I've already seen it.”
Valerie frowned.
“What?”
Hale looked toward her.
“I've seen the incident.”
The driveway became silent.
Daniel stared.
Even Ellison looked surprised.
Hale reached into the SUV and lifted a tablet.
He tapped the screen.
A video appeared.
Daniel recognized his driveway.
Not his camera.
Different angle.
Across the street.
High.
Wide.
Valerie went pale.
Hale turned the tablet.
“You remember the Lambert house?”
Valerie looked toward the home across from Daniel.
Empty for three weeks.
Owners traveling overseas.
Hale continued.
“They asked my department to connect their exterior cameras to vacation-watch monitoring after somebody attempted to enter their backyard last month.”
Valerie stared.
Daniel suddenly understood.
The Lambert camera faced directly toward his driveway.
Hale continued:
“I happened to be at dispatch reviewing another neighborhood complaint when your call was entered.”
“I watched the live feed before deputies arrived.”
Valerie's mouth opened.
Hale played the footage.
No ambiguity.