Tyler stepped forward.
“Mom, that’s enough.”
“Then take your wife home,” Evelyn replied.
“She won’t sign.”
“She will after she understands what happens to unstable mothers.”
Vanessa said something the microphone did not catch.
Evelyn turned sharply toward her.
“You wanted him,” she said.
“Now stop pretending you have a conscience.”
The three of them got into Tyler’s SUV.
They drove away.
Rachel and Lily remained in the sealed car beneath the sun.
For nearly thirty seconds after the video ended, no one spoke.
Then my front door opened.
Evelyn walked into my house with a lawyer beside her and a leather folder tucked beneath one arm.
She wore cream trousers, low heels, and the composed expression she used whenever she expected a room to rearrange itself around her.
Her gaze moved from Detective Chen to the computer screen.
For one unguarded second, fear crossed her face.
Then she looked at Tyler.
“You were supposed to erase that camera.”
Her lawyer seized her elbow.
“Evelyn, do not say another word.”
But she already had.
Detective Chen stepped between Evelyn and the doorway.
“Mrs.
Langford, please place your purse on the desk and keep your hands where I can see them.”
Evelyn gave a small, incredulous laugh.
“This is absurd.
My daughter-in-law had an episode.
We were trying to protect the baby.”
“By locking both of them inside a vehicle?”
“That is not what happened.”
“We just watched it happen.”
Evelyn’s lawyer straightened.
“A private recording can be manipulated.
