Chapter 3 - The Woman Behind the Camera
The footage changed everything.
Detective Reed found fourteen hours of recordings.
Most showed ordinary moments.
Emily feeding Lily.
Daniel leaving for work.
Patricia entering the nursery.
But there were strange moments.
Patricia standing over Lily's crib at 3 a.m.
Patricia taking photographs of Lily while Emily slept.
Patricia whispering to the baby.
And one recording made Emily's blood run cold.
Patricia was holding Lily.
The baby was crying.
Patricia looked directly at the camera.
“Your mother doesn't know how to keep you safe.”
She rocked Lily.
“Grandma does.”
Emily covered her mouth.
The detective paused the video.
“There is more.”
He played another.
Patricia was speaking to someone on the phone.
“I told you the mother is unstable.”
A man's voice answered.
“What about the baby?”
“She'll be mine if Emily leaves.”
Emily stared.
“Who is that?”
“We don't know.”
Detective Reed had traced the cloud account to a prepaid service.
But there was one clue.
The account had been paid using a credit card belonging to Patricia's brother.
Harold Miller.
Emily knew the name.
Harold was a retired family court attorney.
He had advised Daniel during the custody dispute involving Daniel's first marriage.
Emily suddenly remembered something Patricia had said months earlier.
Harold knows how these cases work.
The investigation expanded.
Detective Reed interviewed neighbors.
One neighbor remembered seeing Patricia entering the house late at night.
Another remembered hearing arguments.
Then a former babysitter contacted police.
Her name was Rachel.
She had worked for the family six months earlier.
Rachel arrived at the police station trembling.
“I didn't know if I should tell anyone.”
Detective Reed asked:
“Tell us what?”
Rachel looked at Emily.
“Mrs. Miller told me never to tell you.”
Emily's heart pounded.
Rachel continued.
“She wanted me to document everything you did.”
“What?”
“Your feeding schedule. How much you slept. Whether you cried.”
“Why?”
“She said she was building a case.”
Emily felt sick.
“A case for what?”
“Custody.”
Daniel appeared stunned.
“My mother wanted custody?”
Rachel nodded.
“She told me you were depressed.”
Emily looked at Daniel.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Rachel lowered her eyes.
“There was something else.”
“What?”
“She asked me to exaggerate.”
“About what?”
“Everything.”
Rachel's voice broke.
“If Lily cried for ten minutes, she wanted me to write that she cried for an hour.”
Emily closed her eyes.
The pieces were connecting.
Patricia hadn't simply hated her.
She had been constructing a narrative.
A narrative in which Emily was unstable.
A narrative that could eventually justify taking Lily away.
But there was still a question.
Why?
That answer came from Harold.
Detective Reed questioned him that afternoon.
At first, he denied everything.
Then Reed showed him the nursery footage.
Harold's expression collapsed.
“Patricia needs help.”
“Did you help her create a custody case?”
“I gave her legal advice.”
“Did you know she was physically abusing the child?”
“No.”
“Did you know she struck Emily?”
“No.”
“Did you know she was photographing the baby?”
Harold looked down.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Harold hesitated.
Then said:
“Because Patricia believed Lily was the last chance to save Daniel.”
Emily frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Harold looked at her.
“Daniel's father left him almost nothing.”
“What?”
“His father disowned him.”
“Why?”
Harold sighed.
“Because Daniel isn't his biological son.”
Silence.
Emily looked at Daniel.
He was frozen.
Harold continued.
“Patricia found out years ago.”
Daniel whispered:
“No.”
“She believed your father discovered it shortly before he died.”
Daniel staggered backward.
Emily stared.
Suddenly, the family drama became something much larger.
Patricia hadn't wanted Lily merely because she hated Emily.
She believed Lily represented the only legitimate bloodline remaining in the Miller family.
But then Detective Reed's phone rang.
He listened.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He looked at Emily.
“Mrs. Miller…”
“What?”
“The hospital found something in Lily's blood.”
Emily's heart pounded.
“What?”
“A medication.”
“What medication?”
“Something that should never have been given to an infant.”
Daniel's face turned white.
May you like
Detective Reed continued.
“And the prescription originated from a doctor who treats your mother-in-law.”
