Chapter 6 - the family meeting without kallie)
Richard denied leaving the package.
Of course he did.
He told Detective Cole he had driven past Kallie's neighborhood to visit a hardware store.
There was no receipt.
No purchase.
No explanation for why his vehicle stopped outside Kallie's house for almost four minutes.
But the camera did not clearly show his face.
So the package became another piece.
Suspicious.
Disturbing.
Not definitive.
Three days later, Kallie learned there had been a family meeting.
Jennifer called.
"They all went to your parents' house last night."
"Who?"
"Everyone."
"Everyone?"
"Almost. My mom. Uncle Mark. Aunt Susan. The Carters. Seth."
Kallie stared at the wall.
"What was it about?"
"You."
Of course.
Jennifer continued.
"Your dad says the investigation is tearing the family apart."
Kallie laughed quietly.
"My brother hit my daughter."
"I know."
"Yet somehow I'm the natural disaster."
"I know."
"What did they say?"
Jennifer hesitated.
"They want people to stop cooperating beyond whatever they've already said."
"Can they do that?"
"I don't know."
"Did Dad tell them to lie?"
"Not exactly."
"What does not exactly mean?"
"He said memories get distorted when people keep discussing an event."
Kallie closed her eyes.
"And my mom?"
"She cried."
That was Diane's strongest weapon.
Not anger.
Tears.
When Diane cried, every conversation became about the pain of the person who had caused the problem.
"She said you were trying to send Seth to jail."
"I'm not trying to send anyone anywhere."
"I know."
"I'm telling the truth."
"I know."
Jennifer lowered her voice.
"Owen was there."
"At the meeting?"
"Upstairs. He wasn't supposed to be listening."
Kallie sat straighter.
"What happened?"
"He heard Uncle Richard say something about making sure the birthday videos disappear."
Kallie's heart jumped.
"Videos?"
"People were filming the cake. Decorations. Hallie."
"Did anyone capture the slap?"
"I don't know."
Suddenly Kallie remembered something.
Aunt Linda had been holding her phone near the cake table.
So had cousin Paige.
Someone else had recorded Hallie opening gifts afterward.
Kallie opened the original family chat and began scrolling through media shared before the argument exploded.
Photos.
Short clips.
Hallie dancing.
Paisley holding a strawberry.
Seth laughing near the kitchen.
Then nothing after 3:48 p.m.
The slap had happened around 4:05.
Kallie called Linda.
Her aunt answered cautiously.
"Hi."
"Did you record video at Hallie's party?"
A pause.
"Some."
"Do you still have it?"
"I don't know."
"Please check."
"Kallie..."
"Please."
Silence.
Then Linda said, "Your father asked us to delete anything from around the time of the incident."
Kallie felt her pulse rise.
"Why?"
"He said videos could be misunderstood."
"Did you delete yours?"
Another silence.
"Yes."
Kallie gripped the counter.
"All of them?"
"I think so."
"Linda."
"I don't want trouble."
"You already have trouble."
"Don't talk to me like that."
"My two-year-old was hit in front of you, and now you're deleting things because Dad told you to."
Linda began crying.
Kallie closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
"I didn't know what else to do."
"You could have kept the truth."
Linda ended the call.
Kallie immediately contacted Detective Cole.
He sounded interested.
"Deleting personal videos isn't automatically illegal."
"I know."
"But if someone ordered witnesses to destroy evidence after knowing an investigation had begun, that could matter."
"Can you recover deleted videos?"
"Sometimes."
That afternoon, investigators began contacting relatives again.
The family reacted exactly as Kallie expected.
Diane called six times.
Richard sent:
You have crossed a line.
Seth sent:
You think you're winning. You're destroying Hallie's family too.
Kallie saved everything.
Then something unexpected happened.
Paige called.
She was Kallie's second cousin and had barely spoken at the party.
"I didn't delete mine."
Kallie's heart raced.
"You have video?"
"Not of the slap."
Her hope fell.
"But I have something after."
"What?"
"I recorded Hallie opening presents."
Kallie waited.
Paige continued.
"In the background, your mom is talking to Seth."
"Can you hear them?"
"A little."
"What do they say?"
"I think Diane says, 'We need to make sure nobody makes this worse.' Then Seth says something about Kallie going crazy."
Kallie's pulse quickened.
"Send it to me."
"I already sent it to Detective Cole."
Kallie was stunned.
"Why?"
"Because I'm tired of being scared of your dad."
Another person.
Another crack.
That night, Kallie sat beside Paisley's bed and watched her daughter sleep.
For days, Kallie had believed the truth would depend on finding one perfect piece of evidence.
But maybe that was not how families like hers broke apart.
Maybe they broke one person at a time.
Jennifer.
Erin.
Paige.
Each deciding that silence cost more than honesty.
At 11:18 p.m., Kallie received a text from an unknown number.
I think I found Owen's recorder.
Kallie sat up.
May you like
The next message appeared.
But you need to hear what is on it before anybody else does.
