There.
The worst sentence.
“I've never seen anything.”
“Bruises?”
“No.”
“Fear before today?”
Claire thought.
Lily had become more clingy lately.
She cried when Claire left for work twice in May.
At the time Claire assumed the phase had returned because preschool was ending.
She had started asking:
“Are you home today?”
Every morning.
Claire thought Lily simply preferred her.
Now the questions changed shape.
Evelyn watched her daughter realize things.
“Claire.”
“She told me Daddy says crying makes it longer.”
Her mother's face hardened.
“What is ‘it’?”
“The room.”
Claire swallowed.
“She knew not to tell me she cried.”
Evelyn sat again.
“What are you going to do?”
“I don't know.”
“You need to know tonight.”
“No.”
Claire shook her head.
“I need facts tonight.”
That was the first useful thought she had experienced since opening the door.
Facts.
Not revenge.
Not divorce.
Not forgiveness.
Facts.
How often?
How long?
Why?
What else?
Who knew?
Claire took out her phone.
Nathan had sent seven messages.
I’m sorry.
Please tell me Lily is okay.
I know how this looks.
I never left her for long.
I should have told you.
Can we talk tonight?
Please don't keep her from me.
Claire stared at the fourth message.
I never left her for long.
Not denial.
Measurement.
She took screenshots.
Evelyn noticed.
“Why?”
“I don't know yet.”
“Good.”
Her mother surprised her.
“Keep not knowing.”
Claire looked up.
Evelyn continued:
“You are angry enough to decide the rest of your life tonight.”
“That does not mean tonight is a good time to do it.”
Claire nodded.
Then remembered something.
The house had smart-home sensors.
Not inside the linen room.
But hallway motion sensors.
Door-contact sensors downstairs.
A video doorbell.
Several interior cameras Nathan had installed after a burglary in the neighborhood two years earlier.
One camera faced the upstairs hallway.
Claire’s stomach dropped.
She opened the security app.
The upstairs camera showed as offline.
Since April 7.
Claire stared.
“What?”
Evelyn asked.
“The hallway camera.”
“What about it?”
“Offline.”
Claire opened device history.
April 7, 9:12 a.m.
CAMERA DISCONNECTED.
Manual.