Chapter 4 - I’ll Prove It
Nathaniel called 911 from the hallway while keeping his eyes on Marianne.
“My children are injured and frightened,” he said. “I need police and an ambulance at the Crowe estate.”
Marianne’s face tightened.
“Nathaniel, don’t be dramatic.”
He looked at the belt in his hand.
“Dramatic?”
“I didn’t hurt them.”
Ava whimpered.
Nathaniel turned his head just enough to speak gently.
“Ava, did she touch you with this?”
His daughter stopped breathing.
That was answer enough.
Nathaniel closed his eyes for one second.
When he opened them, Marianne stepped backward into the doorway.
“Careful,” he said.
She froze.
“If you leave before police arrive, I will make sure every camera in this house follows you.”
Her face changed again.
Fear.
Because she had forgotten about the cameras.
Not the hallway camera.
She knew that one had been disabled.
But Nathaniel had installed small security cameras near the exterior doors after a burglary scare years earlier.
Marianne did not know the front entrance camera captured audio.
She did not know the nursery monitor backed up to the cloud.
She did not know Mrs. Bell had sent Nathaniel screenshots before she was dismissed.
That was the problem with people like Marianne.
They assumed control of rooms meant control of records.
Nathaniel knelt again and lifted Oliver carefully first, securing the baby against his chest. Then he wrapped one arm around Ava and pulled her close without forcing her to stand.
“You’re safe now.”
Ava shook her head.
“She said that too.”
He swallowed the pain.
“Then I’ll prove it.”
The police arrived nine minutes later.
The ambulance arrived two minutes after that.
Ava would not let go of Oliver until the paramedic promised she could stay beside him.
Nathaniel rode with both children to the hospital.
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Marianne was not allowed in the ambulance.
For once, she stood alone under the porch lights, rain blowing across her black robe, while officers asked her questions she no longer had time to rehearse.
