Chapter 2 - The photograph showed Lily sleeping in my arms.Except I had never seen it before.
The room in the photograph was dark.
A hospital room.
My hospital room.
I recognized the blanket.
The chair beside my bed.
Even the tiny stuffed rabbit my husband had placed near Lily's bassinet.
But there was something wrong.
I hadn't known anyone was there.
“When was this taken?” I whispered.
Dad looked at me.
“The night she was born.”
My heart hammered.
“How?”
He didn't answer immediately.
The police officer stepped closer.
“Where did you get that?”
“I took it.”
I stared at him.
“You were there?”
Dad shook his head.
“Not in the room.”
“Then how?”
He looked toward my mother.
“She sent it to me.”
Helen stopped breathing.
The officer turned.
“Why?”
Helen said nothing.
Dad unlocked his phone.
“There's more.”
He opened a message thread.
Hundreds of messages.
Some from Helen.
Some from Rebecca.
I saw my own name repeated over and over.
WAIT.
DON'T TELL HER.
MAKE SURE SHE DOESN'T MOVE.
SHE CAN'T HAVE THE BABY FIRST.
I felt sick.
My mother had planned around my pregnancy.
Not emotionally.
Logistically.
There were appointment dates.
Messages about my due date.
Arguments about Rebecca's fertility treatments.
One message from Helen made my blood run cold.
IF SHE GIVES BIRTH BEFORE REBECCA, SHE NEEDS TO LEARN WHAT THAT COSTS.
I looked at my mother.
“You wrote that.”
She started crying.
“It wasn't like that.”
“You wrote it.”
“She was ruining everything.”
“What was I ruining?”
“The family.”
I laughed because I didn't know what else to do.
“The family was ruined when you decided my child was a betrayal.”
The officer asked Dad, “Are these messages authentic?”
“Yes.”
“Can you show us the originals?”
“Yes.”
My mother suddenly lunged toward him.
“No!”
The officer caught her before she reached him.
“Ma'am, step back.”
Rebecca began crying.
“Mom.”
Helen turned toward her.
“Tell them.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Tell them what?”
“The truth.”
Rebecca's face changed.
For the first time, I saw fear instead of anger.
Dad noticed too.
“Rebecca knows.”
I stared at my sister.
“Knows what?”
She didn't answer.
“Rebecca.”
Nothing.
“Knows what?”
My father looked at her.
“You helped her.”
Rebecca whispered, “I didn't know she'd do this.”
My world tilted.
“You helped her do what?”
“I thought it was a scare.”
I couldn't breathe.
“A scare?”
“She wanted you to leave Virginia.”
“Why?”
Rebecca covered her face.
“Because…”
“Because what?”
My mother shouted.
“Stop!”
The officer looked at her.
“Everyone needs to stop speaking over each other.”
Dad pointed toward the house.
“There is something else.”
The officer asked, “What?”
“A camera.”
Helen went rigid.
Dad continued.
“Kitchen ceiling. Motion activated.”
My heart stopped.
“What camera?”
“The one Helen installed after Lily was born.”
My mother whispered, “James.”
Dad ignored her.
“I found the footage.”
One officer asked, “Is it stored somewhere?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Dad looked at me.
“On Helen's computer.”
My mother suddenly became frantic.
“You have no right!”
Dad's expression hardened.
“I have every right.”
“You stole from me.”
“No.”
He looked at the police.
“I copied the footage before she could delete it.”
An officer immediately called another unit.
I held Lily tighter.
“What does the camera show?”
Dad hesitated.
“You don't want to see it.”
“I need to.”
He looked at my daughter.
Then at me.
“Your mother went into the nursery three nights ago.”
My stomach twisted.
“What did she do?”
“She stood over Lily's crib for eleven minutes.”
Rebecca began sobbing.
“Mom…”
“What did she do?” I demanded.
Dad looked at Helen.
“She said something.”
My mother closed her eyes.
“What?”
Dad's voice dropped.
“She said, ‘If I can't fix the order, I'll remove the problem.’”
Nobody spoke.
The police officer's face changed.
My mother was taken aside.
Rebecca was separated from her.
Guests were escorted away one by one.
The party dissolved into evidence bags and flashing lights.
Pink balloons drifted against the darkening sky.
Cupcakes remained untouched.
The fire had finally gone out.
But I couldn't stop thinking about those eleven minutes.
My baby sleeping.
My mother standing above her.
Waiting.
When the officers came back, one handed me a tablet.
“Ms. Bennett, your father said you wanted to see the footage.”
I nodded.
The video began.
Night vision.
The nursery.
Lily's crib.
Then my mother entered.
She walked slowly toward the baby.
She leaned down.
And whispered something.
I couldn't hear it clearly.
The officer increased the volume.
My mother's voice came through the speaker.
“You should never have been here.”
Then she reached inside her robe.
I gasped.
She removed a small black object.
And placed it beneath Lily's crib.
The video stopped.
I stared at the screen.
“What is that?”
My father answered.
“We're about to find out.”
The officer looked at another detective.
“Search the nursery.”
Seconds later, someone shouted from inside the house.
“Detective!”
Footsteps thundered down the hallway.
A younger officer appeared in the doorway.
His face was pale.
“We found the device.”
He held it in a clear evidence bag.
“And there's something written on it.”
The officer turned the bag around.
A white label had been taped across the surface.
Three words were written in black marker.
NOT FOR LILY.
The detective looked at me.
“Do you know what that means?”
I shook my head.
Then Rebecca whispered from across the room.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
She stared at the evidence bag.
“That isn't for Lily.”
May you like
Her voice broke.
“It's for me.”
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