“Lucas.”
“I promise.”
Captain Ruiz touched my shoulder.
“Five minutes.”
I understood.
Sophia and Leo needed the hospital.
But the house needed to be secured.
Naomi stepped beside me as the ambulance doors closed.
“Let’s finish the first layer.”
The first layer.
That was Naomi’s phrase.
There was always what people did.
Then there was why.
Then there was who helped them.
I watched the ambulance pull away.
Then I turned back toward the house.
My mother stood in the foyer like a queen forced to receive peasants.
Audrey stood near the stairs, thumb moving fast over her phone.
Detective Harris noticed.
“Put it down.”
“I’m calling my lawyer.”
“You can call after we preserve the device.”
“You can’t take my phone.”
Harris held out one hand.
“Watch me.”
Audrey looked at my mother.
My mother gave her the tiniest shake of the head.
Too late.
Captain Ruiz saw it.
So did I.
Second payoff.
They were communicating without words because they had practiced this.
The military police investigator beside Ruiz opened a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was a small black memory card.
Audrey went still.
My mother’s eyes moved to the nursery ceiling.
The camera.
Before I deployed, I installed a nursery camera so I could see Leo after he was born. Sophia teased me for being overprotective.
“You’re going to watch him sleep from another continent?”
“Yes.”
“That is ridiculous.”
“Yes.”
But she smiled when she said it.
Two weeks after Leo came home, the live feed went dark.
My mother told me the camera was defective.
Audrey said Sophia had unplugged it because it made her feel watched.
I believed neither of them.
The camera had local storage.
When the internet returned, it uploaded.
Every time.
Captain Ruiz opened a tablet.
“I need everyone to remain where they are.”
Audrey’s voice came out higher than before.
“What is this supposed to prove?”
Ruiz pressed play.
The first clip began in the nursery.
Sophia stood by the crib, exhausted, hair tied back, robe loose over her shoulders. Leo cried in the background.
My mother entered.
No robe then.
Just a cream cardigan and slacks.
Sophia said something the camera did not catch clearly.
My mother slapped her.
The sound filled the room.
My hands curled once.
Then opened.
Calm.
Stay calm.
On the screen, Sophia stumbled back against the dresser.
My mother leaned close and spoke clearly enough for the camera to hear.
“You are a guest in this family.”
Audrey looked away.
My mother did not.
Ruiz played the next clip.
Audrey blocking the front door while Sophia held Leo in a car seat.
Sophia’s voice shook.
“He has a fever. Move.”
Audrey smiled.
“Call Lucas and ask permission.”
“You took my phone.”
“Then I guess you’re stuck.”
Next clip.
My mother taking a bottle of infant medicine from Sophia’s hand.
Sophia begging.
“Please, Eleanor, the doctor said—”
The medicine went down the sink.
Next clip.
Audrey at the kitchen table with Sophia’s phone and laptop.
She was typing.
She was laughing.
She said, “He’s so easy. Just write duty and he folds.”
Detective Harris looked at her.
Audrey said nothing.
