Chapter 1
I came home from work and found my mother gripping my wife’s hair while my eight-month-old daughter screamed in her arms. My wife pointed at her and sobbed, “She attacked me over an accident.”
My name is Daniel, and that afternoon I had left my office in Seattle earlier than usual.
Before I even reached the front door, I heard shouting inside.
“Stay away from my granddaughter!”
I ran into the hallway.
My mother, Linda, was holding baby Sophie against her chest with one arm.
With the other, she had a fistful of my wife Claire’s hair.
Claire’s cheek was red, and she was crying.
“Mom! What are you doing?”
Linda released her and shouted, “Ask your wife what she just did.”
Claire immediately ran toward me.
“Daniel, it was an accident.”
“What accident?”
She covered her face and began sobbing harder.
“Sophie’s stroller slipped near the stairs.”
My stomach dropped.
I looked toward the staircase.
The stroller was lying sideways at the bottom.
“What happened to my daughter?”
“She’s okay,” Mom said, holding Sophie tighter.
Then Mom pointed directly at Claire.
“The stroller didn’t slip.”
Claire froze.
Mom’s voice shook with rage.
“I watched her put Sophie inside, look around, and push that stroller toward the stairs.”
“That’s a lie!” Claire screamed.
I stared at my wife.
She grabbed my shirt.
“Daniel, please. Your mother has hated me since we got married.”
Mom stepped forward.
“I caught the stroller before it reached the bottom.”
Claire shook her head violently.
“She’s confused. She saw me trying to catch it.”
For a second, I didn’t know whom to believe.
Then my mother whispered, “Check the hallway camera.”
Claire stopped crying.
I looked toward the tiny security camera above the front entrance.
Claire suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“That camera hasn’t worked in weeks.”
I pulled out my phone anyway.
May you like
The recording loaded.
And when the video reached 3:17 p.m., I saw Claire standing behind my daughter’s stroller at the top of the stairs.
