Her eyes widened.
“Play it again.”
Daniel hesitated.
Then did.
This time Sophie listened closely.
When Luke said, He loves her, Sophie looked at Daniel.
When Hannah answered yes, Sophie began crying.
Daniel moved around the table and held her.
“Mom knew.”
Sophie pressed herself against him.
“What?”
“That you were Dad.”
Daniel could not speak for several seconds.
“Yes.”
Sophie cried harder.
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca turned away.
Even police sergeants sometimes needed privacy for tears.
The box destroyed Luke’s story.
It also raised a larger question.
Why had Carol kept it?
She answered that afternoon.
Rebecca interviewed her at the station.
Carol admitted Hannah had mailed the letters over several years.
The recorder arrived shortly before the adoption.
Hannah included it because she feared Luke would eventually claim coercion.
Carol listened.
Then hid everything.
“Why?” Rebecca asked.
Carol looked down.
“Because I wanted to believe my son.”
“Which version?”
“The one where nothing was his fault.”
Rebecca remained silent.
Carol continued.
“When Hannah left, Luke said she poisoned Sophie against him.”
“The letters say otherwise.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew it then.”
Carol’s eyes filled.
“I knew enough.”
There it was.
Not ignorance.
Choice.
Carol had watched her son deteriorate.
Drinking.
Anger.
Periods of sobriety followed by worse relapses.
She repeatedly gave him money.
Excused missed visits.
Blamed Hannah.
Then blamed Daniel.
When Luke signed away parental rights, Carol felt as if Daniel had taken her granddaughter too.
Hannah continued sending photographs for another year.
Carol never answered.
Then Luke entered treatment out west.
For a while, things improved.
Hannah offered to discuss safe future contact once Sophie was older.
Luke disappeared again.
After Hannah died, Carol almost contacted Daniel.
Then Luke called.
He was furious.
He said Daniel had always planned to eliminate him.
Carol believed enough of it to stay silent.
Two months before the bus-stop incident, Luke moved back to New Jersey and stayed at Carol’s house.
He found the box.
Everything changed.
He heard his own voice on the recording.
Instead of accepting what it proved, Luke became obsessed with undoing it.
He took photographs of Hannah’s letters.
Then found old stationery in another box of Hannah’s correspondence.
He practiced her handwriting.
Carol discovered the fake letter.
They fought.
Luke left.
Then contacted Caleb.
“Why didn’t you call Daniel?” Rebecca asked.
Carol cried.
“Shame.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is mine.”
She looked toward the observation-room glass where Daniel watched.
“I had spent so many years believing he stole Sophie that admitting the truth meant admitting I helped keep this going.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Again.
Fear.
Shame.