Chapter 6 - A Video Without a Beginning
The first person to send me the video was a client.
Lena, what am I looking at?
I played it in Tessa's office. On the screen, Diane staggered into a chair while I stood over her holding the broom handle. Then I slapped Ryan. The clip began after Diane's first blow and ended before I pressed the alarm.
A caption read: LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER ATTACKS ELDERLY RELATIVE.
"It's edited," I said.
"Of course it is," Tessa replied. "That's why they're circulating it."
My restoration company had three contracts in progress. By lunch, two clients wanted assurances that I wasn't under investigation for elder abuse. I told them the truth without sending the violent footage to everyone with an email address.
At home, I sat on the floor beside the radiator my mother had painted three times because she couldn't decide on a color. I cried there, not because strangers believed Diane, but because Ryan had given them a version of me he knew wasn't real.
Jonah called. A technician had collected the camera's memory card with Officer Chen present, documented the transfer, and saved a verified copy. The original footage was intact.
"There's something you should know," he said. "The neighborhood gate log shows your husband requested a temporary camera-service window on Tuesday. Said the kitchen unit was malfunctioning."
"He never told me."
"Our office declined. A technician was unavailable."
I remembered Ryan asking, three nights before the attack, whether I still checked our camera notifications. I'd laughed and said I barely remembered the password.
Tessa forwarded a new document Diane's lawyer had served: a request for a protective order against me.
May you like
Attached was Ryan's sworn statement.
In his own handwriting he had written, I saw Lena strike my mother without provocation.
