Chapter 4 - THE CAMERA
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
The camera did not belong in a nursery.
Not like that.
Not hidden behind a porcelain rabbit with a hole drilled through one eye.
Detective Kim unplugged it and bagged it as evidence.
Vivian immediately changed her explanation.
"It's a baby monitor."
"Then why is it hidden?" Grant asked.
It was the first question he had asked that sounded like a father rather than a defendant.
Vivian glared at him. "You knew I checked on her."
"I didn't know you recorded her."
"Stay out of this."
"You stood downstairs while your kid begged you. I am in it."
Rachel separated everyone.
Lily was taken to a quiet guest room with a child-services worker. Grant objected until Rachel explained that Lily would not be left alone with either parent until they finished the initial interviews.
"Either parent?" Grant repeated.
"For now."
Downstairs, guests handed police videos of Vivian pouring the water, Lily begging Grant, and Vivian defending the punishment. Grant watched the evidence pile up.
Then his attorney arrived.
Nathan Cole was polished, expensive, and furious that anyone had spoken before he got there.
He pulled Grant aside.
Dante was across the room, but he heard three words.
"The trust clause."
Grant looked sharply toward the staircase.
Nathan lowered his voice.
Dante could not hear the rest.
But Ellen had heard enough too.
"What trust?" she whispered.
Dante shook his head.
A few minutes later, Maria approached him.
"Mr. Rourke?"
"Dante."
She glanced toward Grant and Vivian.
"Lily's mother left something for her."
Dante's attention sharpened.
"Her mother?"
Maria nodded.
"And Mrs. Mercer has been trying to get control of it for months."
Before Dante could ask how she knew, Maria slipped a small envelope into his hand.
May you like
On the front, written in hurried ink, were four words.
IF THEY HURT LILY.
