Chapter 5 - What Rebecca Recorded.
For several seconds, no one breathed normally.
Rebecca filled the laptop screen wearing a loose white sweater Daniel remembered buying for her during their first winter together.
Her hair was tied back.
She looked tired.
Alive, but tired.
Evelyn sat beside her near the nursery window.
The timestamp showed nine months earlier.
Three weeks before the accident.
Daniel reached for the volume.
Evelyn moved toward the laptop.
Cole stepped between them.
"Mom."
Her eyes flashed.
"Move."
Cole did not.
Daniel pressed play.
Rebecca's voice came through the speakers.
"If you bring another agency into this apartment behind my back, I will terminate every household contract myself."
Video-Evelyn smiled thinly.
"You are emotional."
"I am their mother."
"And Daniel is their father."
"Then stop using his fear to make decisions for him."
Daniel's stomach dropped.
He looked toward his mother.
She stared at the screen.
The video continued.
Rebecca said Elise had discovered that the twins responded to exaggerated hand movement when they became overstimulated.
She explained that the headphones were not for Elise to block out crying.
They played a recording of Rebecca humming the same tune she had used during pregnancy.
Daniel looked sharply at Elise.
"You never told me that."
Elise's eyes filled, but her voice remained steady.
"You never asked why I wore them."
On-screen, Evelyn leaned closer to Rebecca.
"You are encouraging attachment to hired help."
Rebecca laughed without humor.
"I am encouraging my daughters to feel safe."
"They should feel safe with family."
"They do not feel safe with you when you treat every emotion like disobedience."
The words landed like a slap.
Cole looked away.
Evelyn finally spoke.
"Turn it off."
Daniel ignored her.
Rebecca's expression on-screen changed.
She looked directly toward the hidden camera.
"If anything happens to me, Elise stays."
Daniel closed his eyes.
Rebecca continued.
"Daniel will try to disappear into work."
His eyes opened.
"He will tell himself that earning, scheduling, protecting, and controlling are the same thing as parenting."
Elise lowered her head.
Rebecca smiled sadly.
"They are not."
Daniel's face burned.
Evelyn stepped closer.
"This was recorded during one argument."
Rebecca's voice continued beneath her.
"And if Evelyn tries to remove Elise, Daniel needs to ask why."
Daniel paused the video.
The room became silent.
He turned toward his mother.
"Why?"
Evelyn's jaw tightened.
"Because Rebecca was isolating you from your family."
"That is not what I asked."
"You were exhausted."
"Why did you want Elise gone?"
Evelyn looked at the twins.
Rosie had fallen asleep against Elise's shoulder.
Maisie was sucking two fingers.
Evelyn's voice softened.
"Because Rebecca told her too much."
Daniel felt cold.
"About what?"
Evelyn glanced at Cole.
That glance lasted less than a second.
Cole saw it.
"What does this have to do with me?"
"Nothing."
"Mom."
"Nothing."
Elise spoke quietly.
"Rebecca believed someone was changing her medication."
Daniel turned.
Every sound in the room disappeared.
"What medication?"
"Her anxiety prescription after the twins were born."
Daniel stared at her.
"Rebecca stopped taking that months before the accident."
"She thought she had."
Elise reached into the inside pocket of her robe and removed a small clear bag.
Inside was a white tablet.
"I found this in her vitamin bottle the week before she died."
Daniel's face drained.
Cole whispered something under his breath.
Evelyn looked furious now.
"You kept medication from this family?"
"I kept one tablet because Rebecca asked me to."
Daniel took the bag.
"You had this for eight months?"
"I had no proof what it was."
"Did Rebecca?"
"She was trying to get it tested."
Daniel looked at the screen again.
The video timestamp.
Three weeks before the crash.
"Was the accident an accident?"
Elise's eyes widened.
"I do not know."
Evelyn stepped forward.
"Stop."
Daniel turned toward her.
His mother no longer looked annoyed.
She looked afraid.
May you like
And that was when Daniel understood something worse than any accusation.
Evelyn knew exactly what tablet he was holding.
