Chapter 2 - Her Version Was Ready
Ryan found me on the bathroom floor with Lily wrapped in two towels and Linda already crying.
That should have told me everything.
“She slipped,” Linda said before he could ask a question. “Emma came in and panicked. I called 911 because the baby needs to be checked.”
Ryan looked from her to me.
“Emma?”
“She put Lily in the toilet.”
Linda gasped like I had slapped her.
“Ryan, that is not what happened.”
“I saw her holding the lid down.”
Ryan went pale.
The paramedics arrived before he answered. One took Lily from me. Another asked how long she had been in the water.
“Seconds,” I said.
“I don’t know,” Linda said at the same time.
The paramedic looked between us.
At the hospital, Lily screamed through every exam, which was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. Her oxygen level was normal. Her lungs sounded clear. The pediatrician wanted to observe her for several hours.
I sat beside the bassinet, still wearing a wet shirt.
Ryan stood near the window.
“Say something,” I told him.
He rubbed both hands over his face. “I’m trying to understand.”
“What is there to understand?”
“My stepmother says the baby slipped. My wife says she did it on purpose.”
“I am your wife.”
“I know.”
“And Lily is your daughter.”
His jaw tightened. “I know that too.”
Linda had been taken to another waiting room after a police officer arrived. Detective Naomi Harper introduced herself and asked us to stay separated until she had statements.
Before she left my room, she asked one question.
“Do you have cameras in your house?”
“Yes,” Ryan said. “Every hallway and exterior entrance.”
Detective Harper nodded. “Good. Don’t access anything yet. We’ll preserve it.”
Ryan finally looked relieved.
“The camera will show what happened.”
I wanted to believe him.
An hour later, Detective Harper came back holding a tablet.
“The hallway camera outside that bathroom went offline for eleven minutes.”
Ryan stared at her.
“What eleven minutes?”
May you like
She turned the screen toward us.
“The exact eleven minutes your daughter was alone with Linda.”
