Chapter 1 - The Little Girl at the Sink

"STOP CRYING AND WASH THE PLATE!"

My four-year-old granddaughter stood on a kitchen stool, her baby half brother, Noah, balanced against her shaking hip. Dirty dishes towered around her. The sink was full, the water was cold, and her face was wet with tears.

"He's slipping," Lily sobbed. "Vanessa, please take Noah."

"You wanted to play mommy," Vanessa said. "Now act like one."

She slapped Lily across the side of the head. Lily wobbled, catching the sink before she and the baby fell.

Fifteen feet away, my son Ethan looked up from his phone, saw what happened, and looked down again.

"Daddy!" Lily cried. "Please!"

He said, "Just listen to Vanessa, honey."

That was the moment I came through the front door.

I'd heard Lily screaming from the driveway. I still held the pink raincoat I'd brought her as Vanessa lifted her hand again.

"VANESSA!"

I crossed the kitchen, pulled her away from the children, and struck her once across the face. I hated losing control. But Lily wasn't alone anymore.

"Don't you ever touch my granddaughter again!"

Ethan sprang up. Not for Lily. For his wife. "Mom! Get your hands off Vanessa!"

"You watched," I said. "You sat there and watched."

He reached for me. I pushed him back. His shoulder hit a bookshelf, sending framed photographs and books onto the floor. Vanessa lunged at me from behind. I turned and shoved her away, then stood between both adults and the children.

Lily slid from the stool into my arms. Noah screamed against her shoulder.

"It's okay," I whispered. "Grandma's here."

"I was bad," Lily said. "That's why she did it."

My blood went cold. "What do you mean, sweetheart?"

She buried her face in my neck. "It happens when I'm bad. Daddy says I have to try harder."

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I dialed 911 before Ethan could tell me not to.

What I didn't know was that three tiny cameras had recorded every second. And later that night, the first officer to examine the footage would discover a folder labeled with Lily's name and two words that made him call for a detective: FINAL PLACEMENT.