Chapter 59 Crucial Evidence
Amelia refused to believe Mason had done it intentionally. Her son was only seven years old—he hadn't even turned eight yet.
Perhaps Mason and Liam had been playing around at the aquatic center, and he'd accidentally pushed Liam in during their roughhousing.
Or maybe Mason and Liam had wanted to go swimming, but when Mason saw Liam slip and fall into the water, he'd panicked and run away without telling anyone.
Either way, she was convinced her seven-year-old son would never deliberately hurt another child or commit such a malicious act as intentionally pushing someone into the water.
So naturally, Amelia helped cover it up.
She stayed awake until dawn, finally falling into a restless sleep as morning approached.
...
The next day, Grace was exhausted but saw that Liam was stable with the nanny watching over him, so she went to work as usual.
As a new employee who'd barely been on the job for a few days, taking time off would probably cost her the position.
Seeing her preparing to leave, Alexander asked, "You didn't sleep well last night. Are you sure you want to go to work today?"
"I don't have a choice," Grace replied. "I guess that's just life." She would have preferred staying home with Liam. When she'd gotten up that morning, Liam was drowsy but clung to her desperately, refusing to let go. She'd finally managed to slip a large stuffed animal into his arms—Liam mistook the plush toy for her and hugged it tightly, allowing her to escape.
"If Liam wakes up and misses me, please call me," Grace instructed the nanny.
Seeing her about to leave, Alexander offered, "Let me drive you."
"No need," Grace declined. "I'll take the subway."
"About yesterday—thank you," Alexander said, noticing she was walking with a slight limp due to her ankle injury.
Alexander knew that Liam owed his life to her. A simple "thank you" hardly seemed adequate.
"Don't mention it," Grace replied. "I would have jumped in to save any child, let alone Liam."
Before leaving, she turned to Alexander. "I'm running late today. Could you drive Max to school?"
"Of course."
Grace left for work, and Max went to school as usual.
However, he noticed something suspicious—Mason was also absent, having called in sick.
Why was he taking a sick day?
Max found this highly suspicious.
After all, it was Mason who had pushed him into the supply closet and locked him in before Liam's incident. Max naturally suspected that Liam's accident was somehow connected to Mason. Was Mason staying home out of guilt, afraid to face anyone at school?
The classroom atmosphere felt strange that day.
News of Liam's near-drowning had spread among the parents, and the students had heard about it too, making everyone unusually cautious.
The aquatic center had been locked up and all swimming classes suspended.
However, with Mason absent, no one bothered Max.
The day passed smoothly, though Max was determined to investigate and uncover the truth.
After lunch, the students settled down for their afternoon nap in the classroom.
But Max had no intention of sleeping. Using the excuse of needing the restroom, he got up and left the classroom.
Instead of heading to the bathroom, he made his way to the school's computer lab.
The lab door was locked, but the windows weren't. Max climbed through a window, powered up the system, and started a computer. Once online, he skillfully entered commands and typed in a string of code, hacking into Windsor Academy's surveillance system.
Accessing the surveillance system, Max quickly detected signs that several segments had been deleted.
He realized with alarm that someone had erased portions of the surveillance footage.
"Just as I suspected," Max muttered to himself, then used his technical skills to restore the deleted footage.
Evidence was everything.
After recovering the files, he retrieved several surveillance clips. After reviewing them, Max confirmed that this incident was indeed more complicated than it appeared. He compiled the footage into an email and sent it to Alexander's private server.
That afternoon, Alexander had just opened his computer when he noticed an email from an unknown IP address containing several video files.
At first, he assumed it was another malware attack. Ever since Max had hacked his systems multiple times, Alexander felt that all security measures were practically useless against the young tech prodigy.
However, the subject line caught his attention:
[The Truth About Liam's Drowning.]
Alexander's heart raced.
He immediately opened the email to view its contents.
The video clips were absolutely crucial.
One showed Mason running through the maintenance staff entrance into the aquatic center, with Liam following about twenty seconds later.
Another clip from inside the aquatic center showed an empty space, but a red circle highlighted a particular area. Alexander noticed that in the surveillance blind spot, half of Mason's figure was visible. He clearly made a pushing motion, followed immediately by what appeared to be a heavy splash. Mason stepped back to avoid the spray, stared at the pool for several seconds, then turned and ran, fleeing the aquatic center.
But Liam never appeared in any subsequent footage.
Three minutes later, Grace and Max appeared at the main entrance of the aquatic center. Alexander watched as she broke through the door and rushed inside.
What followed was the scene of Liam's discovery.
Mason? Alexander remembered—this was Amelia's younger son.
After Amelia married into the Thomas family, she'd given them two daughters first. Due to health complications, she'd rested for ten years before attempting to have another child. Desperate for a son, Amelia had endured tremendous hardship—two miscarriages due to advanced maternal age, bed rest throughout her final pregnancy—finally giving birth to Mason in middle age.
Because of this difficult journey, the Thomas family doted on Mason excessively, spoiling him from birth.
Had Mason actually pushed Liam into the water?
Why hadn't Jeremy found this footage?
And who had sent these videos?
Alexander had too many questions.
Just as he finished watching the footage, the nanny knocked on his study door. "Mr. Hayes, Liam is awake and asking for Ms. Foster."
Alexander stood and entered the bedroom to find Liam awake, sitting up against the headboard with red-rimmed eyes—he'd clearly been crying. Alexander sat down beside the bed. "Liam, why were you crying?"
"Where's Grace?" Liam asked.
"Grace stayed with you all night last night. Do you remember?" Alexander replied.
Liam nodded drowsily.
"She went to work, but she'll be back when her shift ends, and then you'll see her. Okay?" Alexander explained.
But Liam seemed dejected, probably feeling empty inside when he woke up without seeing Grace there.
"Remember how you wanted Grace to come to the school fair with us?" Alexander said. "I bought her a beautiful dress. Would Liam like to see it?"
Liam's eyes suddenly lit up.
A beautiful dress?
He wanted to see Grace in a beautiful dress!
Liam's imagination began running wild, picturing how lovely and beautiful Grace would look wearing that dress.