Chapter 7 - The File Ethan Built
Laura rented a small apartment near Daniel's house.
She did not take Ethan back to Seattle.
"I should've been here sooner," she said on the first night.
Ethan sat at the kitchen table.
"Don't."
"I left."
"For work."
"I still left."
"Mom."
Laura looked at him.
"I need you to understand something. None of this is your job."
He hated those words now.
Because adults kept saying them while leaving the job to him anyway.
"What about Noah?"
"Your father is there."
Ethan laughed bitterly.
Laura did not defend Daniel.
Instead she said, "Show me what you saved."
Ethan opened his laptop.
The secret email account contained twelve entries.
Dates.
Times.
Descriptions.
One blurry audio clip in which Vanessa could be heard telling Ethan to stay away from Noah.
A photograph of a bruise on his ribs.
Another photograph of the nursery camera sitting unplugged in a drawer.
Laura read everything.
Her face became progressively harder.
"This is enough."
"For what?"
"For your father."
"He won't believe it."
"Then someone else will."
Ethan looked up.
"Who?"
Laura hesitated.
"A lawyer."
He stared.
"I don't want Dad arrested."
"This isn't about your dad."
"I don't want Noah taken away either."
"We don't know what will happen."
"Exactly."
Laura closed the laptop.
"We need to think."
Meanwhile, three miles away, Daniel sat alone in Noah's nursery.
Vanessa was asleep.
The house was quiet.
He stared at the empty camera bracket.
For the first time, he wondered why it had really been removed.
He opened the drawer.
The camera was there.
He held it.
Then he noticed something.
The memory card slot was empty.
Daniel frowned.
He had installed a microSD card himself.
He opened another drawer.
Nothing.
He checked the cabinet.
Nothing.
Finally he went to the bedroom.
"Vanessa."
She stirred.
"What?"
"Where's the nursery camera memory card?"
Her eyes opened.
"What?"
"The card."
"I don't know."
"You removed the camera."
"Because it was broken."
"Where's the card?"
Vanessa sat up.
"Daniel, it's midnight."
"Where is it?"
"I threw it away."
He stared.
"Why?"
"It was corrupted."
"How did you know?"
"What?"
"If the camera was broken, how did you know the card was corrupted?"
Vanessa's face changed for half a second.
Daniel saw it.
Then she became irritated.
"Are you interrogating me?"
"No."
"Because Laura came here screaming?"
"She wasn't screaming."
"You're taking her side."
Daniel exhaled.
"I'm asking a question."
"I threw away a broken memory card."
"Okay."
He left.
But it was not okay.
The next morning Daniel called Ethan.
No answer.
He called again.
Laura picked up.
"What?"
"I want to talk to him."
"He's sleeping."
"At ten?"
"He didn't sleep last night."
Daniel went quiet.
Laura continued.
"He thinks you don't believe him."
"I don't know what to believe."
"That's the problem."
"Laura."
"No. You want evidence because believing your son would require admitting you brought somebody dangerous into his home."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"That's not fair."
"Neither is making him prove abuse to you."
The call ended badly.
Daniel stood in his office staring at the phone.
Then he opened the baby monitor application.
He had never deleted the cloud account.
Most footage had not been saved because his subscription was inactive.
But short motion clips remained.
Dozens of them.
Daniel's pulse quickened.
He began watching.
Vanessa walking into the nursery.
Ethan carrying laundry.
Noah sleeping.
Nothing.
Then a clip from two weeks earlier.
Vanessa entered frame holding the box fan.
She placed it beside the crib.
Daniel sat forward.
The clip ended.
He opened the next.
Vanessa adjusting the fan.
Another.
Ethan entering.
Another.
Vanessa moving quickly toward the camera.
The screen went black.
Daniel stared at the final frame.
Vanessa's hand covered the lens.
The timestamp matched one of Ethan's written accounts.
May you like
Daniel called Laura again.
"Bring me the file."
