Chapter 5
Daniel carried the camera downstairs.
Vanessa followed him.
“You cannot just invade my privacy.”
He stopped.
“Your privacy?”
“Yes.”
“In my daughter’s bedroom?”
“I live here.”
“My daughter is a baby.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“That camera was installed without my consent.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You’re worried about consent now?”
He placed the camera on the dining table and searched for the memory card.
There was one.
Vanessa immediately stepped forward.
“You don’t know if that’s legal.”
Daniel removed it.
“I’ll let the police decide.”
At the word police, she stopped.
Daniel inserted the card into his laptop.
Ethan sat on the couch with Sophie.
Daniel wanted to send them upstairs.
But Ethan refused.
“I want to stay with you.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You don’t need to watch this.”
“I know.”
“Then stay in the living room. Don’t look at the screen.”
Ethan nodded.
Daniel opened the files.
Hundreds of clips.
Most were automatic motion recordings.
He clicked the first.
Sophie sleeping.
Nothing.
The second.
Maria entering the room with laundry.
The third.
Vanessa changing Sophie’s clothes.
Normal.
Daniel felt his heart racing.
Maybe there would be nothing.
Part of him wanted that.
Not because he doubted Ethan.
Because every piece of evidence made the truth worse.
He opened another file.
Vanessa entered Sophie’s room.
The date was three weeks earlier.
Daniel checked his calendar.
He had been in Chicago.
Sophie stood inside her crib.
Crying.
Vanessa appeared beside her.
“Stop.”
Sophie cried harder.
Vanessa grabbed the crib rail.
“I said stop.”
The baby reached toward her.
Vanessa stepped back.
“No.”
Sophie screamed.
Vanessa disappeared from frame.
A minute later, she returned with something in her hand.
Daniel leaned closer.
A small spray bottle.
He frowned.
Vanessa said, “Daniel.”
He raised one finger.
She fell silent.
On the screen, Vanessa sprayed water lightly toward Sophie’s face.
The baby recoiled.
Daniel slammed the laptop shut.
His breathing turned ragged.
“What is wrong with you?”
Vanessa looked shocked.
“It was water!”
“She was a baby!”
“She wouldn’t stop screaming.”
“So you sprayed her?”
“I saw it online. It was supposed to interrupt a tantrum.”
“She was fourteen months old!”
“She wasn’t hurt.”
Daniel opened the laptop again.
Vanessa stepped backward.
He clicked another file.
This one showed Vanessa dragging a small mattress from Sophie’s room.
Then carrying Sophie out.
Nothing else.
Daniel checked the next clip.
Empty room.
The next.
Empty.
Then Maria entered.
She looked around.
Called Sophie’s name.
Left quickly.
Daniel clicked another camera folder.
There were several cameras.
Hallway.
Kitchen.
Playroom.
Apparently Maria had installed more than one.
Daniel opened the hallway footage.
Maria walked toward the laundry room.
She opened the door.
The clip had no clear view inside.
But Maria’s reaction was immediate.
She covered her mouth.
Then reached in and lifted Sophie out.
Sophie was limp with sleep.
Maria held her against her chest.
Vanessa appeared at the end of the hallway.
“What are you doing?”
Maria shouted something in Spanish.
Vanessa approached.
Maria turned away protectively.
The audio was faint.
Daniel increased the volume.
Maria switched to English.
“You cannot put baby in there!”
“She’s fine.”
“It is dark! It is hot!”
“She needed to calm down.”
“She is a baby!”
“You work for me.”
“I work for this family.”
Vanessa pointed toward the front door.
“Not anymore.”
The video ended.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Maria had not stolen jewelry.
She had been fired for protecting Sophie.
Daniel grabbed his phone.
He searched his contacts.
Maria.
He called.
No answer.
He called again.
Voicemail.
He sent a message.
Please call me. I know Vanessa lied about you. I am so sorry.
Vanessa laughed quietly.
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
“You’re going to believe a housekeeper over your wife?”
“I just watched you lock my daughter in a laundry room.”
“You watched Maria make accusations.”
“I watched her take Sophie out.”
“You didn’t see me put her in.”
Daniel stared at her.
Vanessa realized too late how that sounded.
Daniel clicked through the footage.
Another date.
Another trip.
Daniel had been in Denver.
The kitchen camera showed Ethan eating breakfast.
Vanessa stood behind him.
Ethan said something.
Vanessa grabbed his backpack and dumped it onto the floor.
Pencils.
Books.
A lunch box.
Everything scattered.
She made him pick it up.
When he moved too slowly, she kicked the lunch box across the room.
Ethan’s shoulders shook.
Daniel pressed his fist to his mouth.
“I can’t watch this.”
Ethan’s voice came from the couch.
“It gets worse.”
Daniel turned.
Ethan had not looked at the screen.
He was staring at Sophie.
“What gets worse?”
“The basement.”
Vanessa shouted, “Enough!”
Sophie began crying.
Ethan wrapped his arms around her.
Daniel stood.
“The basement?”
Ethan nodded.
“What happened?”
“I broke one of Vanessa’s glasses.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“It was an antique.”
“He was eight.”
“He smashed it!”
“It slipped!”
Ethan shouted.
Daniel looked at his son.
Ethan was shaking.
“She made me sleep downstairs.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“One night?”
Ethan nodded.
Vanessa immediately said, “The basement is finished.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“So is a hotel. That doesn’t mean you lock a child in it.”
“I didn’t lock him in.”
Ethan whispered, “You did.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes.”
“I told you not to come upstairs.”
“You locked the door.”
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
“Where did he sleep?”
“There’s a couch.”
“Was there a light?”
“Yes!”
Ethan shook his head.
“She turned it off from upstairs.”
Daniel felt physically ill.
He remembered coming home the next afternoon.
Ethan had hugged him tightly.
Daniel had joked, “Did you miss me that much?”
Ethan said yes.
Daniel had laughed.
Then left again three days later.
He walked toward the basement door.
Vanessa followed.
“Daniel, you’re spiraling.”
He opened it.
The staircase descended into darkness.
He flipped the light.
Finished basement.
Home theater.
Storage.
A guest bathroom.
Technically comfortable.
But Daniel imagined an eight-year-old locked below ground alone.
He looked at the inside of the door.
No lock.
Then Ethan appeared behind him.
“She used the top latch.”
Daniel looked above the door.
A sliding bolt.
Installed high.
He had never noticed it.
“What is that for?”
Vanessa answered.
“Security.”
“From what?”
She said nothing.
Daniel photographed it.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Hello?”
A woman’s voice.
“Mr. Mercer?”
Daniel recognized her instantly.
“Maria?”
She began crying.
“Oh, thank God.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“You found camera?”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Mercer, please listen.”
“I’m listening.”
“You need take children out of house.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
“Why?”
Maria lowered her voice.
“Because camera is not reason she fired me.”
Daniel frowned.
“What happened?”
“I found medicine.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Daniel noticed.
“What medicine?”
“I don’t know name. Pills. She crush them.”
Daniel’s grip tightened on the phone.
“For who?”
Maria was silent.
Then she said the words Daniel never expected.
“For Ethan.”
Daniel turned toward his son.
“What?”
“I see powder in his juice.”
Vanessa screamed, “She’s lying!”
Daniel dropped the phone from his ear.
Ethan stared at Vanessa.
His face went white.
Daniel looked at his son.
“Have you been feeling sick?”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“My stomach hurts a lot.”
Daniel’s whole body went cold.
“How long?”
“A few weeks.”
Vanessa backed away.
Daniel spoke into the phone again.
“Maria, where did you see the pills?”
“In bathroom cabinet. Small bottle. No label.”
Daniel ran upstairs.
Vanessa followed.
“Daniel!”
He entered the master bathroom.
Opened the cabinet.
Nothing.
He searched the drawers.
Nothing.
Vanessa stood in the doorway.
“See?”
Daniel kept looking.
Cabinet.
Closet.
Under the sink.
Nothing.
Then Sophie began crying downstairs.
Ethan shouted.
“Dad!”
Daniel ran.
He reached the kitchen.
Ethan was standing beside the island.
Sophie in his arms.
He pointed at the floor.
A small white bottle had rolled from beneath the refrigerator.
The cap was loose.
Daniel bent down.
There was no label.
His blood turned cold.
Ethan whispered, “That’s it.”
Vanessa stopped at the bottom of the stairs.
Daniel looked at her.
Then at the bottle.
May you like
Then back at her.
“What did you give my son?”
