Chapter 5 - Episode Four
The box contained twenty-three labeled files.
EPISODE 1.
EPISODE 2.
EPISODE 3.
The numbering continued.
Caleb reviewed the camera.
It had been positioned inside Lily’s bedroom.
Grant had installed it without telling me.
At first, I thought perhaps it was meant as a nanny camera.
Then Caleb opened the saved clips.
Episode Four began with Vanessa standing near Lily’s toy chest.
Lily sat on the carpet.
Vanessa said.
“Tell me where Mommy keeps her work bag.”
Lily shook her head.
Vanessa leaned closer.
“Use your words.”
Lily whispered.
“I don’t know.”
My hand covered my mouth.
Her voice.
I had not heard it in eight weeks.
Vanessa smiled.
“You do know.”
Lily began crying.
Vanessa grabbed her wrist.
Then the video ended.
The next file began seven minutes later.
Only Lily’s crying remained.
Episode Five showed Grant.
He stood in the doorway.
Vanessa said.
“She won’t tell me.”
Grant replied.
“She’s five.”
Vanessa snapped.
“Five-year-olds remember everything.”
Grant looked at Lily.
“Sweetheart, where does Mommy keep the little black phone?”
My stomach dropped.
The black phone was my pre-operation secure device.
It contained no classified information once I deployed.
But it did contain contact protocols.
Why did Vanessa want it?
Lily whispered.
“Mommy said no.”
Grant sighed.
“She’s my wife.”
Lily shook her head.
“Mommy said no one.”
Grant’s expression hardened.
Then he looked toward Vanessa.
“Leave it.”
Vanessa responded.
“We don’t have time.”
The clip stopped.
Marcus looked at me.
“They were searching for federal equipment.”
“Yes.”
Caleb opened Episode Nine.
Lily was sitting on the bed.
Vanessa stood over her.
“Where did Mommy put the envelope?”
Lily did not answer.
Vanessa slapped the wall beside her head.
Lily screamed.
Then she stopped.
Completely.
The date.
Three weeks ago.
The same week Lily stopped talking.
Episode Ten began the next morning.
Grant asked Lily.
“Why aren’t you speaking?”
She stared at him.
Vanessa laughed off camera.
“Maybe she finally learned.”
I had to leave the room.
Marcus followed.
“I should have known.”
“No.”
“I left her.”
“You left her with her father.”
“I chose the operation.”
“You followed a federal order.”
“I am still her mother.”
Marcus did not argue.
He let me be angry.
Then Caleb called us back.
He had found a folder on the camera’s memory card.
Not labeled EPISODES.
Instead.
EVELYN.
Inside were recordings of Grant and Vanessa discussing me.
In the first one, Vanessa asked.
“When she comes back, what are you going to tell her?”
May you like
Grant answered.
“If everything goes right, she won’t be coming back.”
