Chapter 4 - Proof of a Bad Child
The video Vanessa called PROOF FOR DANIEL began with Lily shoving Noah's stroller across the kitchen. It looked awful until Detective Ortiz opened the original recording.
Three minutes earlier, Vanessa had left the stroller beside an open cabinet. She ordered Lily to move it while the little girl's feet barely touched the floor. When a wheel caught, Vanessa lunged forward and rocked it herself.
Noah wasn't injured. But he screamed, and Vanessa kept recording Lily's frightened face.
“Say you pushed him,” she commanded.
“I tried to help.”
“Say it, or your daddy will be disappointed.”
Lily finally repeated the sentence Vanessa wanted.
Daniel watched both versions with his hands pressed against his mouth.
“Why would she do that?”
Ortiz put down a photograph of a manila envelope found among the materials Vanessa had offered as proof of Lily's behavior.
“Because someone wanted a documented pattern of dangerous conduct.”
Inside were typed descriptions of alleged incidents, a proposed counseling placement, and a caregiver authorization bearing Daniel's signature. One description claimed Lily had intentionally hurt her baby brother. Another said Margaret couldn't manage her granddaughter because she was confused and forgetful.
Daniel shook his head. “My mother ran a school library for thirty years. She isn't confused.”
“Did you sign this?”
“No.”
“Look carefully.”
He saw the curve of his own name, copied perfectly from a form he had signed for the mortgage. He also recognized the address listed for Lily's temporary stay: a town in Tennessee, hundreds of miles away.
At the bottom was a scheduled pickup time.
Friday. Eight in the morning.
May you like
Ortiz turned the page.
“The paperwork names Vanessa's sister as Lily's new caregiver.”
