“She’s Not My New Mommy,” My Daughter Said—Then I Found the Camera

Ruiz called the apartment officer while I ran for the car.

Diane had come alone. She told the officer she wanted to see Emma and refused to leave. Caleb kept Emma away from the windows. By the time Ruiz and I arrived, Diane was standing near the entrance with both hands visible.

“I’m her grandmother,” she said when she saw me. “You can’t shut me out forever.”

“You put a tracker in her toy.”

“I wanted to know she was safe.”

“You could have asked me.”

“You were grieving. You barely knew what day it was.”

The words struck because there had been days when that was true. It gave her no right to use them against me.

Ruiz told Diane she needed to come to the station for an interview. Diane glanced toward the apartment window.

“Emma,” she called.

I stepped between her and the building. “Don’t.”

Diane looked startled, as if she’d expected me to move aside.

At the station, she admitted she had helped Celia find Vale. She admitted paying him to follow Nora after Nora took Ava’s camera. She said she had never asked him to frighten Ava, and she denied knowing anything about the night Nora died.

“Why send Vanessa to meet Ethan?” Ruiz asked.

Diane folded her hands. “He was lonely.”

“You told Vanessa to take responsibility for the hidden camera.”

“I wanted to spare Emma another investigation.”

“You went looking for that camera at Nora’s storage unit.”

Diane’s eyes flickered.

Ruiz placed the security image from the shipping store in front of her. Then the photograph from the gas station the night Nora died.

Diane asked for a lawyer.

While Ruiz continued the investigation, I returned to Emma. She was on the floor with Caleb, building a crooked tower of blocks.

“Grandma went away?” she asked.

“She’s talking with the detective.”

Emma put another block on top. The tower fell. She sighed and began again.

That afternoon, officers found Ava’s tablet in a trash can near the bus station. A camera showed Vale dropping it there. The library message had come from him.

Ruiz called Sam and warned him that Vale was trying to draw him out.

Then Madison received another message, this time from an unfamiliar number.

Don’t come to the library. I’m at the place Miss Nora promised I could go.

Madison read it aloud, frowning. “Ava once told me Miss Nora promised to take her somewhere with red doors.”