Chapter 2
Evelyn could not stop looking at the hidden camera.
“Officer.”
Detective Marcus Hill turned.
“What is it?”
She pointed toward the ceiling.
“That camera.”
Marcus followed her finger.
His expression changed.
The camera was barely visible behind a decorative vent.
“That part of the home system?” he asked.
“No,” the technician answered. “Definitely not.”
Marcus immediately called another officer upstairs.
“Photograph it before touching anything.”
Maisie tightened her arms around Evelyn.
“I don’t like that camera.”
Evelyn looked down.
“You knew it was there?”
Maisie nodded.
“Vanessa said it watches bad girls.”
Evelyn felt sick.
Marcus heard her.
He crouched several feet from Maisie, careful not to frighten her.
“Maisie, did Vanessa talk about the camera a lot?”
Maisie pressed her face against Evelyn.
Evelyn stroked her back.
“You don’t have to answer anything right now.”
Marcus stood.
“That’s enough for tonight.”
At the station, Grant demanded an attorney.
Vanessa demanded to speak with Grant.
Neither request helped them.
By evening, investigators had obtained permission to examine the camera’s storage card.
Evelyn sat in a hospital room while a doctor checked Maisie.
Thankfully, the child had no serious physical injuries.
But the doctor asked questions Evelyn did not want to hear.
Had Maisie been locked alone before?
Had food ever been withheld?
Did anyone frighten her as punishment?
Evelyn answered the only way she could.
“I don’t know.”
Those words hurt.
Because Evelyn had always believed she knew everything important about her granddaughter.
After Grant’s first wife, Rachel, died, Evelyn had promised herself she would stay close.
Rachel had been more than a daughter-in-law.
She had been family.
Maisie had been fourteen months old when Rachel died in what Grant called a highway accident.
Six months later, Vanessa moved into the house.
Another four months later, Grant married her.
Evelyn had thought it was fast.
She had kept that opinion to herself.
Now she wondered how many other opinions she should have spoken aloud.
Marcus arrived at the hospital shortly before midnight.
He looked exhausted.
“Mrs. Carter?”
Evelyn stood.
“What did you find?”
Marcus glanced toward sleeping Maisie.
“Can we speak outside?”
Evelyn followed him into the hallway.
Marcus held a folder.
“The camera contains months of footage.”
Evelyn’s hand closed around her cane.
“Months?”
“Almost nine.”
“What does it show?”
“Enough to establish a pattern.”
Evelyn stared at him.
He continued carefully.
“Maisie being isolated. Vanessa yelling. Grant present during some incidents. Several occasions where the bedroom was locked from outside.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Nine months.
She had visited that house.
She had eaten dinner at that table.
She had hugged Maisie goodbye and driven home.
“What else?”
Marcus hesitated.
“That camera also recorded conversations between Grant and Vanessa.”
Evelyn opened her eyes.
“What conversations?”
“One of them may relate to Rachel.”
The hallway seemed to tilt.
“My daughter-in-law?”
Marcus nodded.
“We’re still reviewing everything.”
“Tell me.”
“I shouldn’t give you conclusions before we confirm them.”
“Then don’t give me conclusions. Give me words.”
Marcus studied her for several seconds.
Finally, he opened the folder.
“There is a recording from six months ago. Grant and Vanessa are arguing.”
Evelyn waited.
“Vanessa tells Grant, ‘You handled Rachel. You can handle your mother.’”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Grant responds that Rachel was different.”
“What does that mean?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Evelyn gripped the wall.
Rachel’s accident flashed through her memory.
Grant crying at the funeral.
Grant telling everyone Rachel had been tired.
Grant insisting she had lost control of the car.
Evelyn remembered something else.
Rachel had called her two days before she died.
Evelyn had missed the call.
Rachel left no voicemail.
Evelyn tried calling back.
Grant answered Rachel’s phone.
“She’s sleeping,” he had said.
Evelyn had forgotten about it.
Until now.
Marcus spoke again.
“There’s another issue.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“We checked Vanessa’s background.”
“And?”
“Vanessa knew Rachel before Grant claims they met.”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
“How long before?”
“At least three years.”
“That’s impossible.”
“We found photographs.”
Marcus handed her a printed image.
Two women stood together outside a restaurant.
One was Vanessa.
The other was Rachel.
They were smiling.
On the back was a date.
Three years before Rachel died.
Evelyn stared at it.
“Grant told me they had never met.”
Marcus nodded.
“He lied.”
A voice came from behind them.
“Grandma?”
Evelyn turned.
Maisie stood in the hospital doorway holding her blanket.
She looked frightened.
Evelyn hurried to her.
“What happened, sweetheart?”
Maisie looked at the photograph in Evelyn’s hand.
Then she pointed at Rachel.
“Mommy.”
“Yes.”
Maisie pointed at Vanessa.
Then she whispered words that made Marcus freeze.
“Vanessa said Mommy didn’t listen either.”
Evelyn crouched.
“When did she say that?”
Maisie’s lower lip trembled.
“When she locked me in the dark room.”
Marcus immediately looked at Evelyn.
“What dark room?”
May you like
Maisie pointed downward.
“Under the house.”
