At dinner, I noticed his hands trembling as he lifted his fork.
Later, Mia looked up at him.
“You’ll cut my hair tomorrow, right?”
He glanced at me.
“Tomorrow afternoon,” he said. “In the shed. Where my old shop was.”
“Why there?” I asked. “It’s dark.”
“That’s where my tools are,” he snapped. “Enough questions.”
I barely slept that night.
What I Saw Through the Window
The next day, he led Mia to the shed with an old leather bag.
“Stay inside,” he told me. “I need to concentrate.”
I heard the lock click.
My chest tightened.
After a few minutes, I crept outside and climbed onto a crate beneath the back window.
Inside, the shed was dim. A single lamp illuminated the old barber chair.
Mia sat quietly, wrapped in a white cape.
My father stood behind her, scissors trembling.
Then I saw it.
A tiny red light blinking on a shelf.
A camera.
My blood turned cold.
The Truth on the Tape
Later, after my father went to rest and Mia went inside to play, I unlocked the shed.
My hands shook as I turned on the camcorder.
The first recording showed my father adjusting the lens.
“August third,” he murmured. “If Sarah or Mia ever find this…”
My breath caught.
He wasn’t hiding something.
He was leaving something behind.