Chapter 15 - INSIDE THE HOUSE
The photograph changed the investigation.
Someone besides Claire and Margaret might have entered the house.
Detective Chen ordered a full forensic sweep.
The image metadata showed it had been taken three weeks earlier.
The device was neither Claire’s main phone nor the hidden phone.
Daniel thought of every person with access.
Cleaning service.
Contractor.
Babysitter.
His brother Jason.
Then Lily saw the photo.
Her face changed.
“I know that night.”
Daniel crouched.
“How?”
“Mommy was downstairs.”
“Who took the picture?”
Lily whispered:
“Uncle Jason.”
Daniel went still.
Jason was his younger brother.
The fun uncle.
The person who picked Lily up from school when Daniel was stuck at work.
Detective Chen found Jason at his apartment.
He denied everything until shown the metadata.
Then he broke.
“I didn’t hurt her.”
Daniel stared at him across the interview room glass.
Jason kept talking.
“Margaret paid me to take pictures.”
“Why?” Chen asked.
“She said Claire needed proof Daniel left Lily with people all the time.”
“You entered a sleeping child’s room for money?”
Jason put his head in his hands.
“I thought it was for a custody fight.”
Daniel entered the room before Chen could stop him.
“You thought that made it okay?”
Jason looked up, crying.
“I owe people money.”
Daniel’s disgust was immediate.
“How much?”
Jason whispered:
“Forty thousand.”
Then he added something worse.
“Margaret said she’d pay the rest after Friday.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“The rest for what?”
May you like
Jason looked at him.
“For making sure you didn’t get to the courthouse.”
