“I tried to leave.”
“And?”
“She said nobody would believe me because I keep getting in trouble.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
The sentence hit something familiar.
Lily had been getting into trouble more often.
At least Daniel thought she had.
Missing homework.
A broken lamp.
Money disappearing from Natalie’s purse.
A necklace found in Lily’s backpack that Natalie said the child took without permission.
Lily denied almost everything.
Daniel believed some denials.
Not all.
Over the previous six months, arguments became increasingly common.
Natalie repeatedly told Daniel they needed consistency.
Consequences.
Structure.
Daniel agreed.
He had spent years overcompensating after Lily’s mother died.
He knew that.
Everyone knew that.
Maybe he had become too soft.
Maybe Natalie was giving Lily boundaries Daniel was afraid to provide.
That was the story he told himself.
Now his daughter stood in front of him with finger marks around her wrist and said Natalie had used that history against her.
Richard’s voice pulled Daniel back.
“What happened to the horse?”
Lily looked at the broken glass.
“She pushed it.”
Natalie snapped.
“That is a lie.”
Lily flinched again.
Daniel saw it clearly this time.
Richard stood.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Then faced Natalie.
“Open your purse.”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“The purse.”
“No.”
Richard stared.
“This is my house.”
“That does not give you the right to search my belongings.”
“No.”
He nodded.
“You’re correct.”
Natalie seemed surprised.
Richard continued.
“So I’ll ask differently. Did you take anything from my study?”
“No.”
“Then perhaps Lily is mistaken.”
“She is.”
Richard looked toward Daniel.
Then past him.
His eyes stopped on something near the back wall.
The video camera.
Red light still glowing.
A man named George Pearson stood near it.
George had been Richard’s friend since college and had volunteered to record birthday messages all afternoon because Richard refused to hire a professional videographer.
Richard looked at him.
“George.”
George straightened.
“Yes?”
“How long has that camera been running?”
George glanced toward it.
“Since around one.”
Richard looked at the clock.
4:18.
“Continuously?”
“I changed the battery once.”
“When?”
“About two-thirty.”
Richard’s eyes moved toward the crystal horse.
The tripod faced almost directly toward the center of the room.
George understood.
“Oh.”
Natalie understood too.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
She recovered instantly.
“I mean, the camera is pointed toward the party area. It wouldn’t show Richard’s study.”
Richard smiled without humor.
“I didn’t ask whether it would.”
Natalie’s face went pale.
Daniel felt his stomach turn.
George moved toward the camera.
“I can connect it to the television.”
Natalie stepped forward.
“This is ridiculous.”
Richard looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because we are humiliating a child in front of everyone.”
Lily stared.
Daniel nearly laughed from disbelief.
Richard’s voice became colder.
“The child was already humiliated before I entered the room.”
He looked at George.
“Play it.”
George removed a cable from the equipment bag beneath the tripod.
Guests began shifting uneasily.