Chapter 5 - A Story Told Too Quickly
By morning, Mallory's version had reached half the people who'd attended the funeral. Claire had supposedly waved the cross in her face. Daniel had supposedly come out of nowhere and attacked a grieving sister. Someone had posted a clip showing only Daniel swinging the second planter.
The caption read: BROTHER BEATS SISTER OUTSIDE MOTHER'S FUNERAL.
Emma sat cross-legged on the hospital family-room floor with Ruth, pressing stickers onto a blank card for her mother. She'd drawn three figures holding hands beneath a bright yellow sun. One of the figures lay sideways.
"Who's that?" Daniel asked softly.
"Mommy," Emma said. "She's sleeping too long."
He sat beside her. "The doctors are helping her body rest while it heals."
Emma peeled off another sticker. "I saw you hit Aunt Mallory."
His throat closed. "Yes. You did."
"Are you going to hit people when they make you mad?"
Daniel could have told her he only did it to defend them. But his sister had stopped moving toward Claire when he struck. Emma had seen what he really did.
"I made a bad choice," he said. "A very dangerous one. I should have helped Mommy and let the police deal with Mallory."
"Are you bad now?"
"I'm responsible for what I did. I'm going to get help so it doesn't happen again."
Emma considered that. "You can still hold my hand."
That afternoon, Detective Moreno returned. Mallory had a broken collarbone and a concussion. She was expected to recover, but the prosecutor was reviewing Daniel's conduct as a separate assault. Mallory might be charged too. The evidence had to establish both incidents, not trade one injury against the other.
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"There's a problem with the footage," Moreno said. "The video being shared starts after Claire went down. We need somebody who recorded the first attack."
Then Ben called from Helen's empty house. "I found the blue envelope," he said. "Daniel, it was already opened."
