Chapter 2 - The Return Home
At 3:18 a.m., a quiet vibration on my phone signaled an motion alert from the front door camera. Through the live view on my tablet, I watched Claire and her mother, Diane, fumble with the key before stepping into the dark entryway. Both were dressed in formal evening attire, laughing loudly and holding crystal champagne flutes brought from the gala.
"Go check on the kids, Mom," Claire slurred, kicking off her heels against the baseboard. "If Lily let Noah cry all night, I swear I'm taking away her iPad for a month."
Diane wandered toward the kitchen, her lighthearted commentary cutting off mid-sentence. "Claire... you need to come in here right now."
May you like
The high-definition camera recorded their sudden sobriety in real time. The kitchen remained exactly as I had left it: the dried puddle of milk spreading across the hardwood, the soiled towel on the floor, and the empty, unwashed bottle on the counter. Standing upright on the kitchen island was a single white sheet of paper containing a stamped police incident report number, a copy of Lily's hospital admission summary, and a brief note written in black ink:
Do not touch or alter anything in this house. The evidence team has already completed initial documentation.
