Chapter 4 - The Man on Olivia’s Porch
Charles moved one step toward Emma.
Emma was crying hard now.
“You yelled at Mommy.”
Charles looked at me.
“She’s confused.”
That phrase again.
I crouched beside Emma.
“When did you see him?”
“Yesterday.”
“At your house?”
She nodded.
“What did he say?”
Emma wiped her nose with the back of her hand.
“He said Mommy should stop digging.”
Charles laughed.
“This is absurd.”
Emma continued.
“He said if she went to the wedding, people would think she was crazy.”
The room changed.
Charles’s lawyer arrived and immediately asked him to stop speaking.
Good advice.
“You did nothing wrong,” I told her.
“Are they taking Ava?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
I looked at Lena.
She gave the smallest nod.
“I promise I will stay with you while we figure this out.”
That was the most honest promise I could make.
The police asked Charles whether he had visited Olivia.
He denied it.
Then Olivia’s phone connected to the venue Wi-Fi.
A cloud backup began automatically.
Photos appeared.
Screenshots.
Audio files.
Doorbell-camera clips.
One showed Charles standing on Olivia’s porch the previous afternoon.
Time stamp: 4:18 p.m.
He had lied within thirty seconds of being questioned.
The detective looked at him.
“Mr. Whitmore, would you like to change your answer?”
Charles’s lawyer said, “No further questions.”
I kept scrolling.
Another clip showed Camille.
Not yesterday.
Three months earlier.
She stood on the same porch.
Olivia opened the door.
Camille handed her an envelope.
No audio.
Then Olivia threw the envelope back at her.
Camille pointed at the house.
At Emma.
And said something the camera couldn’t capture.
Emma saw the clip.
Her entire body stiffened.
“That’s when she said Daddy chose her.”
I looked at Emma.
“What?”
“Camille said you knew about me.”
My stomach dropped.
“She said you didn’t want me because I would ruin your real family.”
Before I could speak, Lena found the envelope from that meeting in Olivia’s scanned files.
It carried my signature.
May you like
A waiver of parental rights.
I had never signed it.
