Chapter 6 - The Trap Marlene Built
Helena went to Marlene’s apartment the next morning while Savannah attended school.
Before leaving, Helena activated the recording application on her phone and placed it in her coat pocket.
She also checked the indoor camera at her own apartment.
The camera faced the entryway and part of the living room. Helena had installed it after packages began disappearing from the building.
At Marlene’s home, the younger children were still wearing the clothes they had slept in.
June’s diaper bag sat untouched beside the crib.
“You wanted to speak,” Helena said.
Marlene folded her arms.
“I want Savannah returned.”
“She is safe.”
“She is stealing from me.”
“What did she steal?”
“Her labor.”
Helena stared at her.
Marlene realized what she had said and quickly continued.
“I mean her responsibilities. This family depends on her.”
“That is the problem.”
“Do not judge me. You do not know how hard it is to raise children.”
“I know it is not Savannah’s job.”
Marlene lowered her voice.
“If she stays with you, I will report her.”
“For what?”
“Neglect.”
“She is a child.”
“She left four younger children without care.”
“She left them with their mother.”
“I can say I wasn’t here.”
Helena felt cold despite the overheated room.
“You would admit abandoning your children to punish Savannah?”
“I would say she knew I was leaving.”
“And the children will support that?”
Marlene looked toward the hallway.
“They will say what I tell them to say.”
Mateo appeared near the bedroom door.
Marlene called him over.
“If the police ask, you tell them Savannah leaves you hungry.”
Mateo looked at Helena.
“But she buys the food.”
Marlene gripped his shoulder and turned him toward her.
“You tell them she hurts you.”
“She doesn’t.”
“It doesn’t matter what happened. It matters what the police believe.”
Helena kept her face expressionless while her phone recorded every word.
She left twenty minutes later.
At her apartment, she discovered that the indoor camera had sent a motion alert while she was gone.
The footage showed Marlene entering with an old emergency key.
She searched the guest room, opened drawers and read Savannah’s school papers.
Then she forced open Helena’s desk and removed the blue spiral notebook Savannah had placed there for safekeeping.
While standing beside the desk, Marlene called Mateo.
The camera recorded the entire conversation.
“If Savannah refuses, tell the police she hurts you,” Marlene said through the phone.
Mateo protested.
Marlene coached him again.
After ending the call, she held the notebook and smiled toward no one.
“This will bring her home.”
Helena immediately saved three copies of the video.
She sent one to a lawyer she knew through work and another to a secure online folder.
The third remained on her phone.
When Savannah returned from school, Helena showed her the footage.
Savannah watched without speaking.
“She took my journal,” she finally said.
“I know.”
“She’ll use the parts where I wrote that I wanted to leave.”
“Then we use the parts explaining why.”
“She is going to call the police.”
“Probably.”
“What do we do?”
May you like
Helena took Savannah’s hand.
“We stop running from the truth.”
