Chapter 6 - The Bag Wasn’t Meant to Stay There
Camille answered reluctantly.
“It was temporary.”
“What was?”
“The bag.”
She had been collecting the planted items after retrieving or replacing them.
At first she planned to throw them away.
Then she worried staff might discover them in the trash.
So she used the space beneath Noah’s crib as a temporary hiding place.
Mateo stared.
“You hid the evidence under the baby.”
“They were ordinary objects.”
“That isn’t the point.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Camille’s face crumpled.
“I was going to move the bag last night.”
Lila saw her.
That was what the final drawing showed.
Camille kneeling beside the crib.
Sliding the tote deeper beneath it.
Lila stood in the doorway.
Camille panicked.
“What are you doing?” Lila asked.
Camille told her:
“Nothing.”
Lila saw the blue rattle inside.
She recognized it.
“That was in my coat.”
Camille realized immediately that the child had connected the objects.
Lila started toward the hallway.
Camille stopped her.
Not physically.
With fear.
She said that if Lila told Mateo, he might think Noah was not safe around all the fighting and someone could take the baby away.
Lila interpreted it differently:
Camille would take Noah away if she told.
Then this afternoon, Lila asked again about the bag.
Camille, more frightened now, said:
“If you tell your dad before I explain, I’ll take Noah somewhere safe.”
To an adult, perhaps that sounded like leaving temporarily.
To Lila:
She’d take Noah away.
Mateo felt his anger sharpen again.
“You used the baby she loves to keep her silent.”
Camille whispered:
“Yes.”
No explanation softened that.
Then Vincent interrupted.
“There’s another problem.”
He had checked the nursery inventory.
One object inside the tote did not belong to any of the staged incidents.
The digital room thermometer.
It had never been reported missing.
Mateo looked at Camille.
“What was that for?”
She went still.
Vincent continued.
The thermometer normally sat on Noah’s dresser.
Camille removed it two nights earlier.
May you like
Why?
Camille’s reaction told them this object belonged to a different part of the story.
Related Stories
