Chapter 3 - The Missing Forty MinutesDaniel didn't take the memory card.
“Put it down.”
Margaret laughed.
“Now you're afraid of evidence?”
“I said put it down.”
She placed it carefully on the table.
Daniel kept Sophie behind him.
“What is on it?”
“You should watch.”
“Answer me.”
Margaret's face softened.
“Daniel, your daughter has been keeping things from you.”
Sophie shook her head.
“No.”
Margaret looked at her.
“You went into my bedroom at 5:12.”
“I told you why.”
“You opened the bottom drawer.”
“I didn't.”
“You took an envelope.”
“No!”
Margaret turned back to Daniel.
“Forty minutes before your emergency system started recording, I checked the camera.”
Daniel frowned.
“Our cameras continuously record.”
“Not that one.”
“Yes, they do.”
“Check.”
Daniel opened the security app.
The corner camera normally maintained twenty-four hours of rolling footage.
Except today.
There was a gap.
5:03 p.m. to 5:43 p.m.
Emergency recording began at 5:44.
Daniel looked at the screen.
“What happened?”
Margaret gave him a pointed look.
“Ask your daughter.”
Sophie stared at the phone.
“I didn't do anything.”
Daniel checked the system log.
Camera disconnected manually.
5:03 p.m.
Reconnected.
5:43 p.m.
His heart sank.
Only three people knew the security-panel code.
Daniel.
Margaret.
And—
Sophie.
He had taught her after installing the emergency button.
Margaret saw his expression.
“Now you understand.”
“No,” Daniel said. “I understand the camera was disconnected.”
“Sophie turned it off.”
“You don't know that.”
“I watched her.”
“With what?”
Margaret hesitated.
Daniel caught it.
“If the camera was off, how did you watch her?”
Margaret recovered immediately.
“I saw her at the panel.”
“From where?”
“The hallway.”
Sophie shook her head.
“She wasn't there.”
Margaret's eyes flashed.
Daniel turned to Sophie.
“Did you touch the security system?”
“No.”
“Sweetheart, I need the truth.”
“I swear.”
Daniel believed the fear in her face.
But belief wasn't enough anymore.
Someone inside his home was manipulating evidence.
He picked up the memory card.
“I'll look at this.”
Margaret folded her arms.
“Good.”
Then Sophie whispered,
“Dad.”
He looked down.
“She put that there.”
Margaret scoffed.
Daniel ignored her.
“What do you mean?”
“The card.”
“You saw her?”
Sophie nodded.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Margaret's expression changed.
Only for a second.
Sophie continued.
“I came downstairs for water. Grandma was standing on a chair near the camera.”
“What was she doing?”
“I don't know.”
Margaret interrupted.
“Cleaning.”
Daniel stared.
“You were cleaning the security camera?”
“Dusting.”
“At night?”
Margaret smiled tightly.
“Apparently that is now criminal.”
Daniel slipped the memory card into his pocket.
“You're still leaving.”
“Daniel—”
“Tonight.”
Margaret's voice hardened.
“You'll regret humiliating me.”
“I'll survive.”
“You may.”
She looked at Sophie.
“But she may not enjoy what happens next.”
Daniel stepped forward so quickly Margaret backed up.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing threatening.”
“It sounded threatening.”
“It means actions have consequences.”
“For hitting my daughter?”
Margaret grabbed her purse.
“You still don't understand what that child has done.”
Daniel pointed toward the stairs.
“Pack.”
Margaret went.
Sophie stayed pressed against Daniel.
When Margaret disappeared, Daniel crouched.
“Listen to me.”
Sophie's eyes were wet.
“You are not going anywhere.”
“But Grandma said—”
“I don't care what she said.”
“You won't send me away?”
“Never.”
Sophie threw her arms around his neck.
Daniel held her.
Then he noticed something.
The skin beneath the sleeve of her cream sweater.
A faint bruise near her wrist.
Daniel gently pulled the fabric upward.
Another bruise.
Finger-shaped.
His stomach dropped.
“Sophie.”
She pulled away.
“Where did this come from?”
Silence.
“Grandma?”
Sophie stared at the floor.
Daniel felt rage climb his throat.
“How many times?”
“I don't know.”
He stood.
That was it.
Not a family argument.
Not discipline.
Not one terrible moment.
A pattern.
Daniel called the police.
Margaret came downstairs ten minutes later carrying a small suitcase.
She saw him on the phone.
“You're calling someone?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Police.”
Margaret stopped.
Sophie's eyes widened.
Daniel watched his mother's face.
For the first time all evening—
Margaret looked afraid.
Not because of the slap.
Her eyes went immediately toward Daniel's jacket pocket.
Toward the memory card.
Then she said quietly,
“Daniel, before you do something stupid, there's something you need to know about Emily.”
The name of his dead wife hit him like a fist.
Daniel lowered the phone.
“What about Emily?”
Margaret looked at Sophie.
Then back at him.
“The envelope your daughter stole…”
May you like
She paused.
“…contains something your wife hid from you before she died.”
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