Chapter 2 - Seven Seconds Earlier
I didn't open the door.
Daniel looked directly into the security camera.
“Emily, I know you're watching.”
Thomas stood two steps behind him.
He looked nothing like Daniel.
Daniel was tense but composed.
Thomas looked terrified.
I used the speaker.
“Why is Thomas here?”
Daniel looked back at his brother.
Thomas stepped toward the camera.
“Because I should've told you two years ago.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
I felt my pulse in my throat.
“Go away, Daniel.”
“Emily—”
“Thomas can stay.”
Daniel stared at the camera.
“You don't understand.”
“That's becoming a theme.”
Thomas said quietly, “Daniel, let me talk to her.”
“No.”
“It's over.”
Daniel turned.
“Thomas.”
“You heard what you said in that room. Everyone did.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“She has Lily in there.”
“Exactly.”
Silence.
I looked toward my bedroom.
Lily was still asleep.
I unlocked the outer door but kept the chain fastened.
Thomas approached.
Daniel remained several feet away.
“What is 317?” I asked.
Thomas held up the key.
“A storage room at Mom's old house.”
“Why does Daniel have the number?”
“He doesn't.”
Daniel interrupted.
“Thomas.”
Thomas ignored him.
“Mom gave me the key three months ago.”
“Why?”
“She was scared.”
“Of what?”
Thomas looked toward Daniel.
Daniel's face hardened.
“Enough.”
Thomas laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You've been saying that for two years.”
I looked between them.
“What happened two years ago?”
Thomas stared at me through the opening.
“The first time Lily stayed overnight with Mom.”
My hand tightened around the door.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Emily, don't listen to half a story.”
I looked at him.
“Then give me the whole one.”
He didn't.
Thomas did.
“Lily was eight months old. Mom called Daniel in the middle of the night.”
I remembered that night.
Daniel had told me there was a burst pipe at Margaret's house.
He had left at eleven.
Returned after three in the morning.
His clothes had been dirty.
I had believed him.
Thomas continued.
“Mom had lost her temper because Lily wouldn't stop crying.”
My stomach twisted.
“What did she do?”
“She grabbed her too hard.”
Daniel spoke.
“I got Lily away immediately.”
I stared at him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
The word nearly emptied the room of air.
“And you didn't tell me?”
“I panicked.”
“For two years?”
“No.”
His voice cracked.
“The first night, yes. After that... I thought I could control it.”
I wanted to scream at him.
Instead I became calmer.
Sometimes anger burns so hot it stops looking like anger.
“What does Room 317 have to do with this?”
Thomas answered.
“Mom kept records.”
“What records?”
“Videos.”
Daniel turned toward him.
“I told you those were gone.”
“They weren't.”
My knees almost weakened.
“What videos?”
Thomas looked sick.
“Security-camera footage.”
Margaret had cameras in her old house.
I remembered them.
She had installed them after a burglary.
One covered the nursery.
“You're telling me there are recordings of my daughter?”
Thomas nodded.
Daniel said quickly, “Emily, listen to me. I found out about the cameras after the first incident. I copied everything because I wanted proof.”
“Proof for whom?”
He couldn't answer.
“Daniel.”
“For myself.”
I stared at him.
He continued.
“My mother denied it. She said I had misunderstood. She said Lily had been crying and she was trying to settle her. I didn't trust her anymore.”
“Yet you kept letting Lily see her.”
“Never alone after that.”
That was almost true.
Almost.
Then I remembered three months earlier.
My work conference.
Margaret had watched Lily for nearly four hours.
“March.”
Daniel looked confused.
“What?”
“You left Lily with her in March.”
His eyes dropped.
Thomas turned toward him.
“You said you stopped.”
“I was twenty minutes away.”
“You lied to me too?” Thomas asked.
Daniel snapped, “I was trying to hold this family together.”
I opened the door wider.
“No. You were trying to keep it looking together.”
Nobody spoke.
Thomas placed the key on the floor outside my door.
“Room 317 is rented under my name now. We moved everything from Mom's old house when she sold it. There's a locked case inside. I think the original recordings are there.”
“You think?”
“I've never opened it.”
“Why not?”
“Daniel asked me not to.”
I looked at my husband.
There it was again.
Not ignorance.
Control.
He had been managing what everyone knew.
Managing his mother.
Managing Thomas.
Managing me.
“What was on the paper tonight?”
Daniel exhaled.
“I asked Mom for the key.”
“Why tonight?”
“Because I had decided to tell you.”
I laughed softly.
“At our daughter's birthday?”
“No. After.”
“How convenient.”
“I knew Thomas had the box. I wanted to get it before Mom destroyed anything.”
Thomas shook his head.
“You told Mom the box was still there.”
“I had to.”
“No, you didn't.”
Daniel turned.
“She was threatening to make a scene.”
“And then she hit Lily.”
Daniel's face broke.
For the first time that night, I saw something that looked like genuine devastation.
“I never thought she'd touch her again.”
I looked at him.
“That sentence is not the defense you think it is.”
He lowered his head.
I closed the door.
“Emily.”
“Go home, Daniel.”
“Please.”
“We're done talking tonight.”
“What about tomorrow?”
I looked through the opening.
“Tomorrow I'm going to Room 317.”
His head lifted.
“No.”
That was too fast.
Thomas looked at him.
I did too.
“Why not?”
Daniel said nothing.
“What's in there?”
“Nothing you need to see.”
I almost smiled.
It wasn't because anything was funny.
It was because I had finally learned that whenever Daniel said something was unnecessary, it was usually the exact thing I needed.
“I'll decide that.”
I closed and locked the door.
Ten minutes later, the porch was empty.
The key remained on the mat.
At 6:30 the next morning, I called my sister, Claire.
At 7:15, she arrived.
At 8:03, Lily was eating pancakes in Claire's kitchen.
At 8:20, I drove toward West Hall Storage with Rachel beside me.
Thomas had texted the unit number.
Third floor.
Room 317.
The building sat behind an old shopping center.
Thomas was waiting near the entrance.
“You came alone?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Daniel doesn't know.”
Rachel folded her arms.
“He'll know soon.”
We took the elevator.
Nobody spoke.
Room 317 was at the end of a narrow hallway.
Thomas unlocked the door.
Inside were boxes.
Old furniture.
Christmas decorations.
Margaret's dining chairs.
A child's highchair.
Lily's old highchair.
I stopped.
“Why is that here?”
Thomas looked away.
We entered.
At the back stood a gray metal case.
A combination lock secured it.
Thomas stared at it.
“I don't know the code.”
Rachel said, “Try Lily's birthday.”
He did.
Nothing.
I thought about the napkin.
I entered 0317.
Click.
The lock opened.
Nobody moved.
Thomas whispered, “Emily, maybe Daniel was right.”
I looked at him.
“About what?”
“Maybe you shouldn't see what's inside.”
I lifted the lid.
There were six memory cards.
A small digital camera.
A notebook.
And a sealed envelope.
My name was written across the front.
EMILY.
Not Daniel's handwriting.
Margaret's.
Under my name were four words.
IF DANIEL TELLS HER, BURN THIS.
Rachel sucked in a breath.
Thomas went pale.
I tore the envelope open.
Inside was a single photograph.
Daniel stood beside Margaret in her old kitchen.
Lily was in his arms.
The date printed at the bottom was six months ago.
The same weekend Daniel had told me he and Lily were visiting the aquarium.
On the back Margaret had written:
HE BROUGHT HER BACK ANYWAY.
My phone rang.
Daniel.
I rejected it.
He called again.
Then Rachel's phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen.
“Emily.”
“What?”
She turned it toward me.
A message from Daniel.
DON'T PLAY MEMORY CARD FOUR.
I looked inside the case.
Six cards.
Each numbered.
My fingers moved toward number four.
Thomas grabbed my wrist.
“Wait.”
I looked at him.
“What aren't you telling me?”
His face changed.
May you like
And before he could answer, the storage-room door slowly closed behind us.
Someone had entered Room 317.
