Chapter 4 - Somebody at the Table Lied
The first patrol car arrived six minutes later.
By then, nobody was eating.
Emma had finally fallen asleep against James’s shoulder, exhausted from crying. I sat beside him on the living-room couch while two deputies spoke to relatives one at a time.
Lauren had vanished.
My mother kept wringing her hands.
Dad stood near the fireplace and refused to look at her.
Deputy Harris approached us last.
“Mrs. Walker, I need to ask you exactly what happened.”
I told him.
Every word.
I didn’t exaggerate.
I didn’t need to.
When I finished, James added, “I told Ms. Mercer to leave. I never blocked the door until after my wife received information suggesting prior violence against a child. Even then, I did not touch her.”
Harris nodded.
“Anyone record the incident?”
I looked toward the dining room.
My parents had a small indoor security camera mounted above the doorway after a burglary two years earlier.
“There’s a camera.”
Mom immediately said, “It doesn’t record anymore.”
Dad turned.
“Yes, it does.”
She stared at him.
“No, Robert. We canceled the cloud plan.”
“I renewed it in September.”
The room went silent.
Dad pulled out his phone.
Mom moved toward him.
“Robert, don’t.”
He looked at her as if he had never seen her before.
“Why?”
She stopped.
Harris’s attention sharpened.
“Sir, please don’t delete or modify anything.”
“I’m not.”
Dad opened the security app.
His thumb shook.
Then his face changed.
“What?” I asked.
“The camera is offline.”
James stood.
“When did it go offline?”
Dad checked.
“Seven twelve tonight.”
I remembered the time because Lauren arrived at seven fourteen.
Two minutes later.
Harris wrote something down.
“Who has access to the account?”
“Me. Susan. Our daughters used to.”
“I haven’t logged into it in years,” I said.
James looked at my mother.
She looked away.
Harris asked, “Mrs. Bennett?”
Mom’s voice went tight.
“I don’t remember the password.”
Dad stared at her.
“That isn’t what he asked.”
Before she could answer, the second deputy walked in from the dining room.
“Got something.”
He held up a small black plastic piece.
It was the camera’s power adapter.
The cord had been unplugged from the wall.
Not accidentally.
The plug had been tucked behind a cabinet.
Dad looked sick.
“Who unplugged it?”
My aunt spoke from the dining table.
“I saw Susan near that cabinet before Lauren arrived.”
Mom whipped around.
“Carol!”
Aunt Carol’s face turned red.
“You asked me to keep quiet.”
“About the loan.”
“No.”
Carol stood.
“About the camera.”
James shifted Emma to me.
Then he walked into the dining room.
“Why would you unplug a camera before dinner?”
Mom’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Deputy Harris’s phone rang.
He stepped aside, listened, then looked directly at James.
“Major Walker, I need you to stay here.”
James didn’t move.
“Why?”
Harris lowered the phone.
“Because the complaint against you just changed.”
My pulse kicked hard.
“Changed how?”
The deputy hesitated.
“Ms. Mercer says you assaulted her in the foyer.”
“That never happened,” I said.
“I understand.”
He looked around the room.
“But she says she has a witness.”
James asked, “Who?”
Harris glanced down at his notes.
Then at my mother.
“Mrs. Susan Bennett.”
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