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Chapter 3

Author: Seven Sevens
Wendy's eyes flickered at the drunk's line.

She bit down on her teeth, dug into her pocket, pulled her phone out, and turned the screen at the camera.

"You want to call me a liar. I have proof."

It was a piece of hospital surveillance from three days ago.

A woman walked into frame.

Hair loose around her shoulders. Fruit knife in her right hand.

It was supposed to be me. May Fairfax.

The footage had me with murder on my face, kicking a hospital room door open, walking straight to the bed.

Then in one motion, the knife came down across Wendy's belly.

Wendy's voice came out of the speakers, raw.

"Help! Somebody! She's killing my baby!"

The pitch of it could have cut glass.

The nurse station lights started flashing. White coats came running into the frame.

In the video, I turned and ran. The end of the corridor swallowed me.

The footage cut.

The chat lost its mind.

[Holy sh*t! She actually did it!]

[What is there left to debate? The proof is right there! May is a murderer!]

[Wendy, that poor woman... Her own sister-in-law cut her open, and the baby is gone!]

[Death penalty! She deserves nothing less!]

Wendy held the phone with shaking hands. The tears were running down her face.

"Did you all see that? May killed my son with her own hands."

She turned to the drunk. Her voice scraped.

"Now tell me I'm lying. I don't care if she paid you off, or if you've been sleeping with her. I am asking you one question. Do you have any humanity left at all?"

The drunk stared at the phone screen and frowned.

He said it flat. "That video is fake."

Tristan looked like he had heard the world's worst joke. The corner of his mouth pulled into something ugly.

"Fake? This is surveillance pulled out of a top hospital.

"Do you have any idea who you are accusing right now? Do you have any idea how much equipment Crowley Group donates to that hospital every year?"

Marshall shook his head. He gave a small, dry laugh. "A vagrant. Can't afford a meal. But you can authenticate video now. What's next, you think it's AI?"

The chat piled on.

[I'm dying. Is this drunk crazy?!]

[Hospital security can't be faked. Who do you think you are?]

[Shut his mouth! May Fairfax must have paid him! What's your number, I'll double it]

[Honestly, is he sleeping with her too?]

Then Wendy let out a long, awful wail.

Both her hands found her hair. She started slamming her head into the wall.

"Why won't you believe me? I gave you the proof! Do you want me to die? Do you want me to die in this house before you'll listen?"

Her forehead struck the cracked plaster with a dull thud.

Tristan went pale. He crossed the room in two strides and locked her down from behind.

"Wendy, stop! I believe you! I believe you, please!"

She thrashed in his arms. Tears and snot were running down her face.

"Nobody believes me! The drunk says I'm lying. Some of the chat is starting to doubt. You all think I'm acting, don't you?"

Marshall picked his cue.

"Ms. Crowley. With me here, May Fairfax does not get away. A few people running their mouths means nothing. The law works on evidence. Your evidence is overwhelming."

He paused. He gave the drunk a flat look.

"I'd suggest some people learn to keep their mouths shut. Defamation is also a crime."

A bodyguard took the cue. He crossed the floor and put a boot in the drunk's ribs.

"Talking out of turn. A beggar like you. Where do you get the nerve?"

The drunk made a small sound and folded against the wall.

The chat cheered.

[Good! That's what he gets!]

[Anyone defending a murderer deserves to get hit!]

[I bet he knows where she is. Drag him in, and make him talk!]

Tristan saw that line and was about to call for the drunk to be hauled away.

A police siren cut through the air.

His face changed. "Who called the police?"

He had wanted May to apologize. He hadn't wanted her in handcuffs.

The crew looked around. Nobody admitted to it.

Wendy caught the irritation in his face. Something dark flickered in her eyes and disappeared.

"It must have been the chat. Something this big, of course, someone called. Tristan, isn't this what we wanted? Let the police do their work. Let them lock her up. Justice for my baby."

Tristan did not answer. His jaw was tight.

The cruiser stopped. Three uniforms climbed out.

The lead officer checked the address against his notepad. He looked up at the gathered crew.

"Does anyone here know the woman who lives in this house. May Fairfax. She's been dead for a week."
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  • The Livestream That Exposed a Corpse   Chapter 8

    Three months later.Spring came.In front of my grave, on top of the funeral flowers a thousand strangers had brought after the livestream went around, there was something new.A small bunch of wildflowers. They had been tied off with a piece of grass. There was still dew on the petals.The drunk was standing in front of the stone. He was wearing an old shirt that had been washed soft.His hair was longer than it had been three months ago. The dirt was off his face.I was beside him. The sun came through me and landed on the wildflowers.He looked at the photograph on the stone for a long time."I never knew you." His voice was rough. "They tell me your name was May Fairfax.""You used to sit out on the rooftop at night. You used to talk to the moon. You said you wanted to go home. You said you wanted to see your grandmother. You said you wanted to see Tristan."I never answered you. I thought a man like me had no right to talk to a rich woman."His eyes went red."You neve

  • The Livestream That Exposed a Corpse   Chapter 7

    Wendy was convicted on falsification of evidence, defamation, fraud, and inducing perjury, charges combined. She was sentenced to twelve years.The day they brought her out of the courtroom, a taxi stopped at the curb.The door opened. A woman in her fifties got out.Grandma.I came up out of the bench so fast I forgot I had no body.She had lost weight. Her hair had gone the color of paper. Her eyes were swollen and red. She held an envelope in her hand."Wendy..." She called her by name.Wendy turned. The instant she saw who it was, her pupils tightened.Grandma walked over. Her hands shook as she opened the envelope and pulled out a photograph.The photograph was of a girl with a high ponytail and a wide, easy smile.Eighteen-year-old me."This was May." Grandma's voice was small. "She didn't have her parents. I raised her. After she married into your family, she sent me money every month. She never let me know she was struggling."Tears were running down Grandma's face.

  • The Livestream That Exposed a Corpse   Chapter 6

    A week later. Wendy's case opened.I sat in the gallery. No one could see me.The prosecution put forward stack after stack of evidence.They proved Wendy had not just produced a deepfake. She had taken a scalpel to her own belly to fake the wound.When the medical examiner took the stand and said the depth and angle of the cut were inconsistent with an attack and consistent with self-inflicted injury, the gallery went up in a roar.Tristan and Wendy's mother sat in the gallery, sobbing into her hands.She had believed every word her daughter had ever told her. She had believed the pregnancy, the miscarriage, the attack.She had not known the whole thing was theater.Marshall Pierce sat at the defense table looking gray.He had been one of the top criminal-defense attorneys in the country. He had been Crowley Group's chief counsel.In this case, he had not only failed to keep Wendy out of prison. The investigators had also confirmed that he had taken a substantial bribe fro

  • The Livestream That Exposed a Corpse   Chapter 5

    The officer sent the surveillance file off for analysis.The technicians came back fast. The hospital footage that had supposedly shown me attacking Wendy was a deepfake.The original clip was from a different incident at the same hospital a week earlier. The woman in the original footage was a stranger. Wendy had paid someone to swap that woman's face for mine, and to swap the patient's face for her own. The seam was clean. Edited well. The whole thing was a fabrication.When the lab's findings hit the livestream, the chat detonated.[The video is fake! Wendy was lying!][So the wound on her belly is fake too! She was never pregnant!][We got played. Wendy, you horrible woman!][I was just cursing at May… I was cursing at a dead woman…]There was no blood left in Wendy's face.She watched the chat she had whipped into a frenzy turn on her one comment at a time. Her lips were shaking."That isn't… That isn't what happened."She turned to Tristan."Tristan, you believe me, r

  • The Livestream That Exposed a Corpse   Chapter 4

    The officer's words hit the courtyard like a charge."Dead?" The color was already going out of Tristan's face. "You said May is dead?"The officer glanced at him. His tone was flat."Yes. The owner of this house. May Fairfax. Time of death roughly seven days ago. The neighbors called us in because no one had come or gone for a long time. We found the body. The initial assessment is suicide. Multiple injuries on the body. The fatal wound was to her wrist. She lost too much blood."I stood between them and watched.Nobody could see me.I had been dead a week. There was just a weightless thing left of me, walking around the world.Wendy's eyes shifted. Then she shrieked."She killed herself out of guilt! She knew she could not get away with what she did to my baby! She ran first!"She threw herself into Tristan's arms. Her shoulders were shaking."Tristan, she is dead! Does that mean my baby's death does not get justice? Does she walk away from this just by dying? That isn't ri

  • The Livestream That Exposed a Corpse   Chapter 3

    Wendy's eyes flickered at the drunk's line.She bit down on her teeth, dug into her pocket, pulled her phone out, and turned the screen at the camera."You want to call me a liar. I have proof."It was a piece of hospital surveillance from three days ago.A woman walked into frame.Hair loose around her shoulders. Fruit knife in her right hand.It was supposed to be me. May Fairfax.The footage had me with murder on my face, kicking a hospital room door open, walking straight to the bed.Then in one motion, the knife came down across Wendy's belly.Wendy's voice came out of the speakers, raw."Help! Somebody! She's killing my baby!"The pitch of it could have cut glass.The nurse station lights started flashing. White coats came running into the frame.In the video, I turned and ran. The end of the corridor swallowed me.The footage cut.The chat lost its mind.[Holy sh*t! She actually did it!][What is there left to debate? The proof is right there! May is a murderer!

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