Chapter 5 - THE CAMERA IN THE NURSERY
Carla's expression changed when she saw the reflection.
Not dramatically. Professionals are good at keeping their faces still.
But she saw it.
"Send me that," she said.
Before she left, she gave me a card and told me not to delete anything.
The next morning, Olivia helped me find a family-law attorney named Maya Chen.
Maya had the kind of calm that made panic feel embarrassing.
She reviewed my photos, the fake wine setup, and the petition.
"This isn't a strong guardianship case," she said. "But it is a dangerous harassment pattern. Your husband gave his mother access to information she should never have had."
"Can she take my baby?"
"Not because you cried during pregnancy. But people can create chaos if they're willing to lie. Our job is to document faster than they can invent."
That afternoon, I remembered something.
Two weeks earlier, Mark had installed a small camera in the nursery.
"For the baby monitor system," he had said.
But the baby wasn't born.
Why had it been recording already?
Olivia and I went back to the house with a police standby to collect my clothes.
Diane was gone. Mark stayed in the driveway.
In the nursery, I pulled the camera from the wall.
There was a microSD card inside.
At Olivia's place, we opened the files.
Most showed an empty crib.
Then we found a clip from six days earlier.
Diane entered carrying a grocery bag.
She set a bottle of wine on the dresser.
Then another clip.
Mark came in.
"Mom, this is too much," he said.
Diane answered, "Then grow a spine. She'll forgive you after we have temporary custody."
"What if she doesn't?"
Diane laughed.
"She has nowhere else to go."
I covered my mouth.
The clip continued.
Mark lowered his voice.
"What about the hospital form?"
Diane looked directly toward the crib.
"Already handled. When she goes into labor, they'll call me before they discharge the baby."
May you like
Maya replayed that line twice.
Then she said, "Rachel, we need to find out what she filed at your hospital. Today."
