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The footage switched to the elevator. Watching it from above felt different than remembering it. I saw myself step inside and press nine. A few seconds later, just as the doors started closing, his hand came between them. He stepped inside, said something to me, and moved to the other side of the elevator. Nothing about it looked threatening. That was what bothered me. If someone had shown me the footage without telling me there was a problem, I would’ve thought it was exactly what I thought it had been last night… just two strangers sharing an elevator.
“What did he say?” Daddy asked.
“He apologized for catching the doors at the last second. Then he said he was going to the ninth floor too.”
“Did you tell him you lived on nine?” Daddy’s tone was stern.
“No. I had already pressed the button.”
Marcus asked the supervisor to pull up the ninth-floor hallway. My uneasiness grew as the footage changed. The elevator opened. I stepped out, and he followed. Daddy’s jaw tightened beside me. The camera showed the man walking ahead while I went toward my apartment. Eventually, I disappeared from view when I got inside my place. He didn’t enter an apartment. Instead, he continued far enough down the hallway to appear like he was going to another apartment. Then he waited. My mouth went dry.
After a short time, he turned around and headed straight back toward the elevator. I stared at the screen.
“That’s when I saw him.”
Daddy looked at me.
“Saw him where?”
“Through my peephole. I heard somebody outside after I got in, so I checked. He was walking back this way.”
“And you didn’t call security?”
“I didn’t know there was anything to call security about. I thought maybe whoever he was visiting wasn’t home.”
“He wasn’t visiting anyone,” Marcus said.
I looked at him.
“We checked.”
Daddy was quiet for a moment. That worried me more than if he had started yelling.
He looked at the supervisor.
“Show me the exterior footage.”
The man pulled up another camera. This time we watched my car arrive. I parked, got out, and headed toward the building. The footage continued. Several seconds later, another vehicle passed through the camera’s view. Marcus leaned closer, and Daddy did too.
“There,” he said as he pointed at the screen.
The car continued past before eventually disappearing from that camera’s angle.
“Can you pick it up on another camera?” Daddy asked.
“We’re working on it.”
I stared at the screen as something cold settled in my stomach. Last night suddenly felt different.
“Daddy.”
He looked at me.
“I was at MJ’s family’s house before I came home.”
“I know.”
“No, I mean…” I looked back at the frozen image of the man. “What if he saw me there?”
