Chapter 5 - The Bag at the Gate
Detective Park reached Margaret's property with two deputies before the truck left. Lena had already told him where the pool-house laundry trash was collected. He explained later that the bags were kept separate and documented before anyone opened them.
Margaret called me while they were still on the driveway.
"Are you proud of yourself?" she hissed. "Police going through my garbage?"
"Are you more worried about the trash than your granddaughter?"
"I have done everything for that child."
"Then tell me why her flotation panels were missing."
Silence.
"You don't know what you're accusing me of," she said, and hung up.
At the hospital, Evie was able to eat half a cup of gelatin. Daniel fed her one spoonful at a time, laughing softly when she complained about the flavor. Watching them made my chest ache. Normal life was standing right in front of us, and I couldn't reach it.
Park called late that afternoon. The deputies had recovered three soft blue buoyancy inserts from a bag taken from the laundry area. He wouldn't say whether they matched the orange shirt until the lab looked at them.
"Margaret says Lena must have removed them," he told me.
"Lena wasn't alone with the top. Margaret was."
"We know what the photos show. We're still building the timeline."
I walked back into Evie's room. Daniel was at the window, talking to his mother.
"No," he said firmly. "Nora won't sign anything while Evie's in the hospital."
When he ended the call, I asked, "Sign what?"
He handed me an email Margaret had forwarded him. Attached was a document titled Emergency Temporary Guardianship Agreement. The document described me as an unstable, inattentive mother.
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At the bottom was a preparation date.
Eleven days before Evie went into the pool.
