Chapter 7 - THE COPY
We watched the video in my car with the doors locked.
Caleb sat in the passenger seat, hands shaking.
"I stopped recording twice," he said. "I was scared."
"Just play it."
The image opened on the shed door.
Vanessa's voice came first.
"You stupid animal."
May cried out.
I covered my mouth.
The camera moved closer. Through the crack in the door, I could see Vanessa holding May by the collar near the old crate. May twisted, frightened, trying to get free.
Caleb whispered from behind the camera, "Mom, stop."
Vanessa spun toward him.
"Turn that off."
"You're hurting her."
"She destroyed something important."
"She's a cat!"
Vanessa shoved the camera away. The image went black for several seconds.
When it returned, May was lying beside the crate, breathing but barely moving.
My entire body went numb.
Caleb's recorded voice was crying. "We need a vet."
Vanessa answered, "We need silence."
The video ended.
I could not move.
Caleb stared at his knees. "I wanted to call you. She said if I told anyone, she'd tell the police I did it. She said everyone already knew I had anger problems."
I looked at him.
"Did you?"
"When I was twelve. After my dad left. I broke stuff. I went to therapy. She uses it against me whenever she wants me quiet."
My anger shifted. Not away from May. Never away from May. But toward the woman who had turned her own son into a shield.
"What was the letter?"
Caleb rubbed his face. "I don't know. She put it in a green folder."
I remembered the storage box behind the flowerpots.
"Did you see where she hid it?"
He nodded slowly.
"In the shed."
We went back with my father this time.
The plastic box was gone.
But beneath the flowerpots, we found a green folder torn open.
Inside was one surviving page.
May you like
At the top, in my mother's handwriting, were six words:
If anything happens to me, look at Vanessa Reed.
