Chapter 5 - THE CALL THAT VANISHED
At the hospital, a doctor told Daniel that Lily had a broken wrist and a concussion. She would recover, but she needed to stay overnight for observation.
Daniel sat beside her bed until her breathing settled.
A detective named Rosa Bennett arrived shortly after midnight. She listened to Daniel’s account without interrupting.
“I saw Caroline’s hand on her shoulder,” he said. “Then Lily fell.”
“Did you see the push itself?”
“I saw enough.”
Bennett wrote that down. “The hotel says its staircase camera was offline during the party.”
“Convenient.”
“I’m checking why.”
Daniel gave her Evan’s name and told her about the missing video. Bennett stepped into the hall to call him.
When she returned, her expression had changed.
“Your brother says he wasn’t recording.”
“That’s a lie.”
“He says he had his phone out to answer a text.”
Daniel stared at her. Evan had said the video was gone. Now he claimed it had never existed.
Caroline came in before Daniel could respond. She carried Lily’s favorite stuffed rabbit and a paper cup of coffee.
“Can I see my daughter?” she asked.
Bennett looked at Daniel. He looked at Lily, sleeping beneath a thin blanket.
“Leave the rabbit,” he said.
Caroline set it on the chair. “I know you’re angry.”
“I know what I saw.”
“You saw our child fall. So did I.”
Bennett asked Caroline to speak with her outside.
While they were gone, Daniel called Evan. His brother answered on the fifth ring.
“Why did you lie to the detective?”
A long pause.
“Because I don’t have the video,” Evan said.
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“Caroline called me before the detective did. She said Lily was going to blame her because they’d argued. She said a story like that would tear the family apart.”
“And you believed her?”
“No. I panicked.”
“Can you recover it?”
“I’m trying.”
Daniel ended the call before he said something he couldn’t take back.
Lily shifted in the bed. Her eyes opened, then filled with tears.
“Mom wanted the paper,” she whispered. “She said if I told you, she’d send you away.”
“No one’s sending me away.”
Lily looked past him toward the door.
“She came to my room before the party,” she said. “She found the album.”
May you like
Daniel leaned closer.
“She didn’t take the paper,” Lily said. “She took something else.”
