Chapter 4 - I Changed the Locks Before I Called Her
I did not call Claire immediately.
First I secured the house.
I changed the garage code.
Disabled her access to the smart lock.
Removed her from the camera application.
Collected the spare key she kept in the entry drawer.
Then Rachel stayed with the children while I backed up the footage.
Only after that did I call.
Claire answered cheerfully.
“Hey, soldier.”
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“Grocery store.”
“Which one?”
Another pause.
“Daniel, why?”
“Which store?”
“Target.”
There were three nearby.
“Send me your location.”
Her voice changed.
“Why are you being weird?”
“Because Valerie told me about the yellow house.”
Silence.
Long enough.
“Daniel—”
“Where is it?”
“You’re scaring me.”
“No. I’m asking you a question.”
She started crying.
It came quickly.
Too quickly.
“You come home early, don’t even call me, and now Valerie’s obviously filling your head with things.”
That sentence removed the last reason I had to protect her feelings.
“I watched the kitchen footage.”
Nothing.
Then:
“What footage?”
“You know exactly which footage.”
“I thought that camera didn’t record.”
There it was.
Not denial.
A mistaken assumption.
“You left them alone.”
“I was gone twenty minutes.”
“Three hours and seven minutes yesterday.”
Claire inhaled sharply.
“I had an emergency.”
“What emergency?”
“My mother.”
Claire’s mother lived in Arizona.
“What emergency?”
She changed direction.
“I’ve been overwhelmed, Daniel.”
“That doesn’t explain Valerie’s shoulder.”
“She bruises easily.”
“I watched you grab her.”
“She was about to drop Mateo.”
That was false.
The footage showed Mateo in a bassinet across the room.
Claire did not know I had watched enough to know that.
Then she said something I hadn’t expected.
“You have no idea what Valerie is really like when you’re gone.”
My anger went cold.
“Do not talk about my daughter like she’s the problem.”
“I’m saying she lies.”
“Then why does the camera keep agreeing with her?”
Claire hung up.
Five minutes later, my phone alerted me that someone had attempted to access the security system remotely.
May you like
Claire wasn’t trying to explain anymore.
She was trying to see what I had.
