Chapter 9 - THE FOOTAGE
I didn’t want to watch it.
Then I did.
Maybe because I needed to know whether my memory had protected me from something worse.
The footage showed the hallway outside our old apartment.
Lauren arrived at 9:41 p.m.
Even through grainy video, I could see how angry she was.
I opened the door.
There was no audio.
For six minutes, we argued.
Then I tried to close the door.
Lauren blocked it with her foot.
I stepped into the hallway.
She pointed in my face.
I pushed her hand away.
Then she shoved me.
Hard.
I hit the wall.
My hand went immediately to my stomach.
James sucked in a breath beside me.
On screen, Lauren stepped toward me again.
A neighbor opened his door.
Lauren stopped.
Then she left.
I remained against the wall for nearly a minute before going inside.
I started crying.
“I forgot how hard she pushed me.”
James put his arm around me.
Daniels paused the video.
“We located the neighbor.”
I looked at him.
“He remembers?”
“Yes.”
The neighbor, Mr. Collins, had been seventy then.
He had seen Lauren shove me.
He had asked whether I wanted police.
I told him no.
I remembered that part only when Daniels said it.
Because I had been embarrassed.
Because Mom had spent years training me to call Lauren’s violence “family problems.”
Daniels continued.
“Mr. Collins also remembers something Lauren said.”
James leaned forward.
“What?”
“According to him, she said, ‘You should’ve given me the money when I asked.’”
The five thousand dollars.
The loan I refused.
I closed my eyes.
Then Daniels added, “There’s more.”
Of course there was.
Lauren had been released pending further investigation on several financial charges, but an emergency protective order had been issued barring her from contacting us.
For the first time in years, she legally had to stay away.
That night, I slept for five straight hours.
Then someone pounded on our front door.
James was out of bed instantly.
“Stay here.”
He checked the security camera.
His face hardened.
“Who is it?” I whispered.
“My mother.”
That surprised me.
James’ mother, Evelyn, lived three states away.
She had never shown up unannounced.
James opened the door.
Evelyn walked inside carrying an overnight bag.
Her eyes went straight to me.
Then to Emma.
Then back to James.
“I saw the news.”
My heart dropped.
“What news?”
She pulled out her phone.
A local website had published Lauren’s arrest.
But that wasn’t the problem.
The headline said:
May you like
DECORATED CAPTAIN ACCUSED OF THREATENING WOMAN DURING CHRISTMAS FAMILY DISPUTE.
And suddenly Lauren’s lie wasn’t just a family problem anymore.
