Chapter 2 - The Second Video Was WorseKiara brought Maisy out through the side gate.
She told Roxanne they needed milk.
That was all.
Roxanne barely looked up from the kitchen table.
“Take her.”
Maisy immediately reached for Kiara’s hand.
That detail frightened Kiara.
Children who felt safe did not usually grab someone’s hand like they were escaping a burning building.
They walked quickly.
Not running.
Running would look suspicious if Roxanne watched from the window.
When they reached the park, Dashiell was already there.
Maisy saw his car and stopped.
“Daddy?”
Dashiell opened the door.
She ran.
He barely had time to kneel before she crashed into him.
“Daddy!”
He wrapped both arms around her.
Maisy began crying immediately.
Not because anything new happened.
Because she was finally safe enough to stop holding it in.
Dashiell closed his eyes.
“I’m here.”
“I’m sorry.”
His eyes opened.
“For what?”
“I made Aunt Roxanne mad.”
“No.”
He pulled back and looked at her.
“You do not apologize for that.”
Maisy looked confused.
“But she said—”
Dashiell kissed her forehead.
“Not now.”
He looked at Kiara.
“You said three videos.”
Kiara nodded.
Her face was pale.
“How long have you known?”
“Known? Today.”
“Suspected?”
Kiara looked away.
“Two months.”
Dashiell felt anger rise.
“Two months?”
“I didn’t know.”
“You had videos.”
“Not at first.”
Dashiell stood.
“You saw something happen to my daughter and waited?”
Kiara flinched.
Maisy grabbed Dashiell’s hand.
“Daddy.”
That one word stopped him.
He looked down.
Maisy was frightened by his voice.
Dashiell immediately lowered it.
“I’m sorry.”
Kiara swallowed.
“You have every right to be angry.”
“Then tell me.”
She took out her phone.
“The first video I recorded thirteen days ago.”
“Why didn’t you send it?”
“Because I couldn’t prove what happened before I started recording.”
“What did you record?”
Kiara opened the first saved clip.
The date appeared.
Dashiell watched.
The hallway outside Maisy’s room.
Roxanne stood near the bedroom door.
Maisy’s voice came from inside.
“I want Daddy.”
Roxanne answered:
“Your father doesn’t have time for this.”
“I want to call him.”
“No.”
Then Maisy said:
“I’ll tell him.”
Roxanne’s voice changed.
“Tell him what?”
Silence.
Then:
“Go ahead. Tell him you’re the reason your mother cried the night she died.”
Dashiell stopped the video.
“What?”
Kiara said nothing.
His face drained.
Elowen had died after an automobile accident.
Maisy had been five.
She wasn’t involved.
She had been asleep at home.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Dashiell restarted.
Maisy cried.
“You’re lying.”
Roxanne replied:
“Am I?”
Then footsteps moved away.
End.
Dashiell stared at the screen.
“She told my daughter she caused her mother’s death.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Maisy buried her face against his leg.
Dashiell knelt again.
“Maisy.”
She wouldn’t look up.
“Sweetheart.”
Slowly, she did.
“Did Roxanne tell you Mommy died because of you?”
Maisy’s eyes filled.
“She said Mommy went out because I was bad.”
Dashiell felt something tear inside him.
“No.”
Maisy started crying.
“No, baby.”
He held her face gently.
“Your mother’s accident had nothing to do with you.”
“But Roxanne said Mommy was upset because I wouldn’t sleep.”
Dashiell closed his eyes.
That part was true.
The night Elowen died, Maisy had been sick.
Elowen had left to pick up medicine after midnight because they had run out.
A drunk driver crossed the center line.
Dashiell had always blamed himself for not going instead.
Roxanne had apparently taken the one detail Maisy vaguely remembered and turned it into a weapon.
“You were sick.”
Dashiell’s voice broke.
“Mommy went because she loved you.”
Maisy stared.
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
She hugged him.
Dashiell looked at Kiara over Maisy’s shoulder.
“Second video.”
Kiara hesitated.
“This is the one I warned you about.”
She played it.
Roxanne stood in the downstairs study.
Not with Maisy.
On the phone.
Kiara had filmed from the hallway.
Roxanne’s voice was low.
“I said I need more time.”
Pause.
“No. He still hasn’t found it.”
Pause.
Dashiell’s expression changed.
Roxanne continued:
“Elowen hid everything too well.”
Dashiell leaned closer.
Pause.
Then Roxanne said:
“If Dashiell finds the letter before we do, it’s over.”
The video ended.
Dashiell looked at Kiara.
“What letter?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who was she talking to?”
“I couldn’t hear the other person.”
Dashiell took the phone.
“Did you see the number?”
“No.”
“Anything?”
Kiara nodded.
“After the call, she went upstairs.”
“To where?”
“Your bedroom.”
Dashiell stared.
“What did she do?”
“Search.”
His stomach dropped.
“Search what?”
“Your wife’s things.”
Dashiell had never packed Elowen’s belongings completely.
Her jewelry remained in one drawer.
Old letters.
Photographs.
A cedar box containing keepsakes.
He rarely opened it.
Roxanne had no reason to touch any of it.
“Third video.”
Kiara swallowed.
“This one is why I almost called you immediately.”
She pressed play.
Maisy sat at the kitchen table doing homework.
Roxanne stood behind her.
A sheet of paper lay between them.
“Sign your name.”
Maisy frowned.
“Why?”
“Practice.”
“I know my name.”
“Then write it.”
Maisy carefully wrote:
Maisy Holloway.
Roxanne took the page.
“Again.”
Maisy signed three more times.
Dashiell’s blood went cold.
“What is she doing?”
Kiara whispered:
“I don’t know.”
Then the video showed Roxanne placing the handwriting samples into a folder.
Dashiell stared.
A folder.
Not trash.
Not homework.
Saved.
He looked at Kiara.
“And the fourth?”
Kiara’s face changed.
“It happened yesterday.”
She did not play it.
“Why?”
Kiara looked at Maisy.
“Not in front of her.”
Dashiell felt dread crawl up his spine.
He looked down at his daughter.
“Sweetheart, can you sit in the car for two minutes? Doors locked. I’ll be right here.”
Maisy hesitated.
Kiara gave her a tablet.
“I’ll stand beside the window.”
Maisy climbed inside.
Dashiell closed the door.
“Show me.”
Kiara opened the final clip.
Roxanne stood in the basement.
She was holding an old photograph of Elowen.
Then she turned to someone outside the camera’s view.
And said:
“She was supposed to take the secret to her grave.”
Dashiell stopped breathing.
Another voice answered.
A man.
Dashiell recognized it instantly.
May you like
His own brother.
Calder.
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