Chapter 2
I did not sleep that night.
Rachel stayed between Ethan and Lily in our bed while I sat in the hallway with my back against the wall.
Every time the house creaked, I stood.
Every time headlights passed the windows, I checked the driveway.
At six in the morning, someone knocked on our front door.
Rachel came out of the bedroom.
“Are you expecting anyone?”
“No.”
The knocking came again.
Harder.
I looked through the window and saw a woman holding a folder.
A man stood beside her.
He wore a county identification badge.
My mother’s threat returned to me.
By tomorrow morning, you won’t have a house, a job, or a family.
I opened the door but kept the chain attached.
“Can I help you?”
The woman showed me her identification.
“Mr. Carter, I’m Melissa Grant with Child Protective Services. We received a report concerning possible violence in this home.”
Rachel appeared behind me.
“Violence against whom?”
“Your children.”
My hands went cold.
“My mother locked them in a shed yesterday.”
“We’re aware of that allegation.”
“Allegation? She admitted it to the police.”
Melissa’s expression remained neutral.
“We received additional information after midnight.”
“What information?”
“That Mr. Carter has a history of violent outbursts and that yesterday’s incident began after he struck his mother in front of the children.”
Rachel gripped the doorframe.
“Who filed the report?”
“I can’t disclose that.”
“You don’t have to,” I said. “It was Diane.”
Melissa glanced at the man beside her.
“We need to speak with the children and inspect the home.”
Rachel looked at me.
I could see the question in her eyes.
If we refused, would it make us look guilty?
I removed the chain.
“Come in.”
Melissa interviewed Ethan first.
She asked us to wait in the kitchen.
I hated every second of it.
The door to the living room remained partly open, and I heard pieces of their conversation.
“Does your father get angry?”
“Sometimes.”
“Does he hit people?”
“He hit Grandma.”
“Has he ever hit you?”
“No.”
“Has he hit your sister?”
“Never.”
“Are you afraid of him?”
“No. I’m afraid you’re going to take us away.”
My chest tightened.
Rachel reached for my hand.
Melissa spoke more gently.
“Why do you think that?”
“Grandma said she would.”
Rachel and I looked at each other.
“When did she say that?” Melissa asked.
“In the shed.”
There was a long silence.
“What exactly did she tell you?”
“She said Dad would get angry when he found us. Then everybody would see he was dangerous. She said she needed proof.”
I stood so quickly that the chair scraped across the floor.
Rachel pulled me back down.
Melissa continued.
“What kind of proof?”
“I don’t know. She put her phone near the door before Dad came home.”
My mind raced.
Diane had expected me to find them.
She had wanted a confrontation.
She had recorded it.
Melissa interviewed Lily next.
Lily carried her stuffed rabbit and answered in whispers.
“Grandma said Daddy was bad.”
“Do you think your daddy is bad?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Bad daddies don’t break doors to save you.”
Rachel covered her mouth to keep from crying.
After the interviews, Melissa inspected every room.
She checked the refrigerator, the children’s beds, the medicine cabinet, and the locks.
Then she asked to see the shed.
The broken door still hung crookedly.
Inside, the air was already hot even though it was early.
Melissa stood there for less than a minute before stepping out.
“They were inside this structure for five hours?”
“That’s what Ethan said.”
She looked sick.
“The initial hospital reports support prolonged heat exposure.”
“Then why are you investigating us?”
“Because we investigate every credible report.”
“Do you consider my mother credible?”
“I consider evidence credible.”
She opened her folder.
“Mrs. Carter provided a video.”
Rachel’s grip tightened around my hand.
“What video?”
Melissa turned a tablet toward us.
The recording began with Diane inside the shed.
She was screaming.
“I need water!”
Then I heard my voice.
“So did they.”
The next part showed me unlocking the door.
Diane rushed out.
She pointed at me and shouted that I had attacked her.
The video ended before the officers questioned her.
There was nothing showing the children being rescued.
Nothing showing Diane raising her hand.
Nothing explaining why she was inside.
Only an angry man standing outside a locked shed.
“She edited it,” I said.
Melissa nodded.
“We suspected that.”
Rachel stared at her.
“Then why show us?”
“Because it has already been sent to your employer, your children’s school, several relatives, and at least one local news page.”
My phone buzzed.
Then it buzzed again.
More than thirty notifications appeared.
The edited video had been posted online.
The caption read:
LOCAL FATHER LOCKS ELDERLY MOTHER IN HOT SHED AFTER ASSAULTING HER.
Comments multiplied every second.
Monster.
He should lose his children.
Someone needs to arrest him.
My supervisor had left three messages.
Rachel’s mother had called twice.
Lucas had sent one sentence.
Tell me that video isn’t real.
I called him.
He answered immediately.
“Adam, what happened?”
“You know what happened.”
“I know what you told me.”
“She edited the video.”
“I saw you locking her in.”
“After she locked Ethan and Lily in there for five hours.”
“Do you have proof?”
“My children are the proof.”
“They’re children.”
I went silent.
Lucas seemed to realize what he had said.
“That came out wrong.”
“No. It came out honestly.”
“Mom is saying you coached them.”
“Mom is a liar.”
“She’s still our mother.”
“And they’re still your nephew and niece.”
I ended the call.
Melissa closed her folder.
“We are not removing the children today.”
Rachel exhaled.
“Today?”
“The case remains open until we complete our investigation.”
“How long?”
“It could take several weeks.”
My phone rang again.
This time it was my supervisor, Mr. Bennett.
“Adam, we need to talk.”
“I can explain.”
“I’ve seen the video.”
“It was edited.”
“The company has received complaints. Clients are threatening to cancel contracts.”
“My mother abused my children.”
“I’m not making a judgment.”
“You’re suspending me.”
“With pay while we investigate.”
I looked through the window at Ethan and Lily sitting together on the porch.
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
The call ended.
My mother had struck the first blow exactly where she promised.
My job.
A dark sedan stopped across the street.
The driver raised a camera toward our house.
Rachel closed the curtains.
“This is insane.”
Melissa gave us her card.
“If anyone threatens you, document it. Do not respond publicly without legal advice.”
“What about Diane?”
“She was released early this morning.”
I stared at her.
“Released?”
“Pending a charging decision.”
Rachel stepped closer.
“She nearly killed our children.”
“I understand your frustration.”
“No, you don’t. She is outside somewhere while our children are afraid to sleep.”
Melissa promised to request an emergency protective order.
After she left, Rachel locked every door.
I called Officer Mercer.
He already knew about the video.
“We’re trying to obtain the original file,” he said.
“She planned everything.”
“It appears that way.”
“Why was she released?”
“The prosecutor wanted more evidence tying her to the confinement. She claims the children locked themselves inside.”
“The lock was outside.”
“She says you placed it there later.”
I almost threw my phone.
Mercer continued before I could speak.
“There’s something else. The custody petition we found wasn’t filed.”
“Not yet.”
“But the signature appears to be yours.”
“It isn’t.”
“We’ll have it examined.”
I thought about the key to my father’s desk.
“Did she say why she had my office key?”
“She claimed it belonged to her.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Check your office. See if anything is missing.”
I went upstairs.
My father’s desk stood beneath the window.
He had built it himself.
After his death, I kept his letters, business records, and will inside it.
The top drawer was unlocked.
I opened it.
Files had been moved.
The envelope containing my father’s will was gone.
So was the blue ledger from Carter Construction, the company he had founded.
Rachel entered behind me.
“What’s missing?”
“Dad’s will and a company ledger.”
“Why would she want those?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan appeared in the doorway.
His face was pale.
“Dad?”
I knelt.
“What is it?”
“Grandma was in here yesterday.”
“Did you see her?”
“She told us to stay downstairs, but Lily needed the bathroom. We heard Grandma talking to someone.”
“What did she say?”
Ethan looked toward the hallway as though Diane might be listening.
“She said she found the ledger.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“Anything else?”
“She said Grandpa made a copy.”
“Of what?”
“I don’t know. Then she saw us.”
Rachel knelt beside me.
“Is that when she took you outside?”
He nodded.
“She asked what we heard. I said nothing. She called me a liar.”
“Then she locked you in the shed?”
“First she made us look for something.”
“What?”
“A red metal box.”
I remembered one immediately.
My father had kept an old red cash box in his workshop.
“What happened when you couldn’t find it?”
“Grandma got angry. She said Grandpa must have given it to you.”
I stood and searched the desk again.
Behind the bottom drawer, my fingers touched something taped to the wood.
It was an envelope.
My name was written across the front in my father’s handwriting.
Adam—if Diane ever asks about the red box, do not trust her.
Rachel read the sentence over my shoulder.
Inside the envelope was a small photograph.
It showed my father standing beside the shed.
On the back, he had written four words.
Beneath where children play.
We looked through the window.
A wooden swing set stood near the shed.
Before we could move, the doorbell rang.
Rachel checked the security camera.
Diane stood on our porch.
Lucas was beside her.
And between them was a man holding legal papers.
May you like
Diane looked directly into the camera.
Then she smiled.
