Archer stepped carefully into the apartment, his movements deliberate as he scanned the disturbed area. “Let me make some calls.”
“Wait,” Morgan said suddenly, remembering something important. “The cameras.”
“Cameras?” Archer turned to face her.
“I had security cameras installed after finding my door unlocked the other night,” Morgan explained. “I meant to tell you, but with everything that happened, it slipped my mind. Kane installed them—your friend who did my locks.”
Archer tilted his head as he watched her from behind his reflective sunglasses. “Kane installed security cameras in your apartment? When?”
“Thursday, during my lunch break,” Morgan said, wondering at his strange reaction. “There’s two of them. They’re motion-activated and store footage in the cloud.” She hesitated, then added, “Actually, you should probably check the footage first. You’ve been here since they were installed, and I don’t want to see your face before you’re ready to show me.”
The tension in Archer’s posture didn’t ease. “How do you access the footage?”
“On my phone,” Morgan replied, holding it out to him. “Kane sent me the login details by email.”
Archer took her phone carefully. “Let's check this first, then we’ll decide on next steps.”
Morgan nodded, she watched as he navigated to her email, found Kane’s message, and downloaded the security app as instructed.
“The footage is stored in six-hour blocks,” Archer observed, scrolling through the interface. “Looks like there was activity around 6:30 AM today.”
Morgan’s stomach dropped. “I was at your place. I didn’t wake up till about 8.”
Archer nodded, his focus on the phone screen before turning it so they could both watch.
At first it was just a black and white image of her living room, until she watched someone enter the view, coming into the frame from where her window was, but it was out of the camera’s view to watch how the figure entered. They both watched as someone in a motorcycle helmet and indistinguishable black clothes entered her apartment and started searching for something.
Her stomach dropped and she whipped her head towards Archer. Could he have broken in while she was sleeping? Why would he break into her apartment? He would know exactly where she was since she was at his place. And on Wednesday, he had known she was out with the girls. He could have been the one to break in then too.
She took an involuntary step back, and the movement caught his attention.
He glanced up, “What’s wrong Morgan, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Was this you?” Her shaky whisper could barely be heard in the silence.
“What?”
“Was this you?” Her voice getting louder, pointing at her phone in accusation.
“Morgan, babe, that’s not me.” He gently took her hand, “I would have no reason to search your apartment, and if I did, wouldn’t I have done that while I was here with you? Or while you were sleeping? Besides, take a closer look at the helmet.”
His calm voice soothed something in her. Made her pause for a moment and take a breath before looking again. The helmet did look different, even though he wasn’t wearing his now, the person’s helmet on-screen had some writing on the front above the visor, where Archer’s was pure black.
She took a breath. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know why I thought that this could have been you, even for a moment.”
“This was obviously done by someone wanting to make it seem like me if they were caught. See, they’re leaving now, they didn’t even go to the bedroom.”
She watched as the intruder left the screen and her living room was still once more.
“I felt like something was off on Wednesday after I came home from my girls night. Where were you then?”
She watched his face closely, and even without being able to see most of his facial features, she could see his forehead and the very tops of his ears, and his ears were definitely turning pink. He was hiding something.
“Tell me now,’ She demanded, “Where were you on Wednesday night?”
She watched as he scrubbed the back of his neck and looked away, before he huffed out a breath and turned to her. “I was watching you.”
“What?” She reared back, surprise clear in her voice.
