Chapter 2 - Everyone Saw Something Different
The paramedics examined Lily first.
No burns.
No obvious injuries.
They still transported her to the hospital because she was six weeks old and had been thrown dangerously close to an active fire.
I rode beside her.
Dad went separately for the burn on his forearm.
Police kept Helen and Rebecca at the house.
Before the ambulance doors closed, Detective Lauren Pierce climbed inside long enough to ask one question.
“Mrs. Carter, did your mother intentionally throw your daughter?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
No softening it because she was my mother.
“Yes.”
At the hospital, Lily screamed through every examination.
I had never been happier to hear her cry.
Then my husband, Nathan, arrived.
He had been working a Saturday shift at the engineering firm.
He came through the pediatric emergency department doors looking ready to tear the building apart.
“Where is she?”
I put Lily into his arms.
His face collapsed.
Then Dad appeared behind him, his forearm bandaged.
Nathan stared at him.
“You saved her?”
Dad looked embarrassed.
“I was close.”
That was Dad.
He had crossed fire for his granddaughter and still found a way to make it sound accidental.
Detective Pierce arrived forty minutes later.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Witness statements.”
There had been twenty-seven people in the backyard.
Fourteen claimed Helen deliberately threw Lily.
Six said they saw “a sudden movement” but couldn’t determine intent.
Three insisted Lily slipped.
And four had somehow seen nothing.
“That’s impossible.”
Pierce agreed.
“Especially because several statements use nearly identical language.”
She showed me three.
I felt sick.
Unexpected movement.
Loss of balance.
Unfortunate accident.
The same phrases.
“Someone told them what to say.”
“Possibly.”
Then Pierce placed a clear evidence bag on the table.
Rebecca’s phone.
“She tried deleting messages before officers took it.”
Dad looked up.
“Can you recover them?”
“We’ll try.”
My phone buzzed.
A message from my cousin Daniel.
I RECORDED HER.
He sent the video.
Rebecca stood near the hydrangeas.
Her voice was unmistakable.
“They weren’t supposed to survive this.”
I handed the phone to Pierce.
Her expression sharpened.
Then another message arrived.
Unknown number.
YOU SHOULD ASK WHY THERE WAS A FIRE PIT AT A BABY SHOWER.
I stared.
The fire pit had bothered me too.
June afternoon.
Eighty-three degrees.
Nobody needed warmth.
“Dad?”
He looked at me.
“Why did Mom light the fire?”
“I thought Rebecca wanted it.”
Nathan frowned.
“For what?”
Dad became pale.
“I don’t know.”
Then Detective Pierce’s phone rang.
She listened.
“Where?”
Her eyes shifted toward Dad.
“We’ll be there.”
“What happened?” I asked.
Officers searching the backyard had discovered something inside the ashes.
Not wood.
Not decorations.
Paper.
A partially burned legal document.
Only one line remained readable.
PETITION FOR EMERGENCY GUARDIANSHIP OF MINOR CHILD.
My stomach dropped.
Lily’s full legal name appeared beneath it.
The petition had been prepared three days before the baby shower.
Applicant:
Rebecca Anne Mercer.
May you like
My sister hadn’t simply resented my daughter.
She had already prepared paperwork to take her.
