Chapter 1 - The Camera Opal Thought Was DeadOpal Reed believed the camera had been off since breakfast.
That was why she stopped pretending.
One-year-old Kai sat strapped into his high chair in the bright Albuquerque kitchen, his face wet with tears.
Porridge covered his lips.
His cheeks.
His bib.
Every time the spoon came toward him, he twisted his head away.
“No!”
It wasn’t a real word.
Just a frightened baby sound.
Opal’s mouth tightened.
“Eat.”
Kai cried harder.
She pushed another spoonful toward him.
He jerked sideways.
The porridge smeared across his cheek.
“Eat!”
Kai turned away again.
Something inside Opal snapped.
SMACK.
Her hand struck quickly across the side of his face.
Not enough to leave blood.
Enough to shock him into silence for half a second.
Then Kai screamed.
His little hands shook.
Opal stared at him without sympathy.
“Eat, you little bastard.”
Footsteps thundered down the hallway.
Tessa ran into the kitchen.
At ten years old, she was old enough to understand what she had just seen.
And young enough that seeing it still stopped her cold.
“MS. OPAL!”
Opal spun.
Tessa’s eyes went immediately to Kai.
His face was red.
Porridge covered his mouth.
Tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Don’t do that to my brother!”
Opal stood.
“You stay out of this.”
“You hit him!”
“He needs discipline.”
“He’s a baby!”
Opal’s face hardened.
“You two have been spoiled your entire lives.”
Tessa moved toward Kai.
Opal stepped between them.
“Go upstairs.”
“No.”
The word surprised both of them.
Tessa was usually cautious around Opal.
For months, Opal had controlled the house whenever Celeste was away.
She decided when Tessa ate.
When she watched television.
When Kai slept.
When doors closed.
When questions stopped.
But something about seeing that quick slap erased the fear that usually kept Tessa quiet.
“I’m taking Kai.”
“You are doing nothing.”
“My mom will see.”
Opal laughed.
A genuine laugh.
She pointed toward the small security camera near the ceiling.
“No, she won’t.”
Tessa looked up.
“I turned that thing off this morning.”
Opal leaned closer.
“So don’t try threatening me with your mother.”
Tessa’s eyes moved from the camera to the wall beside the pantry.
A small control panel.
She had seen her mother use it once when the internet went down.
Opal turned back toward Kai.
That was her mistake.
Tessa moved.
Fast.
She slapped the camera icon on the wall panel.
BEEP.
A small green light appeared above them.
Opal turned.
“What did you do?”
Tessa backed away.
The camera’s indicator light came alive.
Twenty minutes away, inside a pediatric specialty clinic in Albuquerque, Celeste Mercer’s phone vibrated.
She was sitting across from Dr. Leah Moreno, discussing Kai’s recent feeding problems.
The unexplained sleepiness.
The strange episodes where he seemed weak.
The days when he refused food.
Celeste had brought a notebook filled with dates because something had felt wrong for weeks.
Her phone screen lit.
KITCHEN CAMERA — LIVE.
Celeste almost dismissed it.
Then she saw Kai crying.
Saw porridge across his face.
Saw Tessa backing away from Opal.
She turned the volume up.
Opal’s voice filled the consultation room.
“You think turning that on changes anything?”
Dr. Moreno stopped speaking.
Celeste stood.
“Tessa?”
Her voice came through the kitchen speaker.
Tessa looked upward.
“Mom?”
Opal went completely still.
Celeste stared at the screen.
“Get away from Kai.”
Opal looked toward the camera.
Her face changed.
For one second, pure panic appeared.
Then it disappeared.
“Celeste.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“I saw his face.”
“He wouldn’t eat.”
Tessa shouted:
“She slapped him!”
Opal spun.
“You little liar!”
Celeste’s blood turned cold.
“OPAL!”
The older woman froze.
Dr. Moreno was already reaching for another phone.
“I’m calling emergency services.”
Celeste nodded.
Then she heard Opal mutter something.
Barely audible.
Opal was looking toward the counter beside her handbag.
“Thank God she still hasn’t noticed the new bottle doesn’t look like the old one.”
Celeste stopped breathing.
“What?”
Opal’s head snapped up.
Tessa looked toward the handbag.
Beside it sat a small amber bottle.
Celeste recognized the shape.
Almost.
Kai had a prescribed liquid supplement.
But the bottle on the counter was wrong.
Different cap.
Different glass.
Different label placement.
Celeste stepped closer to her phone.
“OPAL!”
The older woman reached toward the bottle.
“WHAT BOTTLE?”
Tessa grabbed it first.
Opal lunged.
“Put that down!”
Tessa backed away.
Celeste screamed through the speaker.
“TESSA, DON’T OPEN IT!”
Tessa clutched the bottle against her chest.
Opal stopped.
Celeste stared at her.
“Opal.”
The older woman looked toward the camera.
“Tell me what’s in that bottle.”
Opal said nothing.
“What did you replace?”
Silence.
Dr. Moreno was standing now.
Her face had changed too.
“Celeste,” she whispered, “ask Tessa when Kai last had whatever is in there.”
Celeste repeated the question.
Tessa looked frightened.
“Ms. Opal gives it to him every night.”
Celeste’s knees almost failed.
“How long?”
Tessa looked toward Opal.
Opal shook her head once.
A warning.
Celeste saw it.
“Tessa.”
Her daughter looked directly into the camera.
“Since you started taking him to the doctor.”
The room around Celeste disappeared.
Kai’s unexplained sleepiness.
His poor appetite.
The strange mornings when he could barely keep his eyes open.
Every appointment.
Every test.
Every night Celeste sat beside his crib wondering what was wrong with her baby.
She looked at Opal.
The woman who had stayed with the family after Nolan died.
The woman Celeste trusted with her children.
“Don’t touch that bottle,” Celeste said.
Opal’s eyes sharpened.
Celeste grabbed her purse.
“Police are coming.”
For the first time, Opal looked truly afraid.
Then she looked at Tessa.
Not at Kai.
Not at the door.
At Tessa.
May you like
And whispered:
“You have no idea what you just did.”
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