Chapter 10 - The Live Feed
Police traced the nursery camera to a remote viewing account.
The account was registered to Martin Keller's office.
By morning, Martin had an explanation ready.
He claimed Diane hired a private home-monitoring service because she feared Noah was unsafe.
He called it "documentation."
Officer Lee called it "possibly illegal surveillance."
Olivia called it a gift.
"They overreached," she said. "People who believe they're entitled to control you eventually stop hiding how they do it."
The police seized the camera storage.
What they found was worse than I expected.
Hours of footage showed Diane moving objects before taking photographs.
She placed Claire's medication near the changing pad.
She scattered bottles across the counter.
She removed a smoke detector battery.
Then she photographed each scene.
One clip showed her talking to someone on speakerphone.
Martin.
"Not enough," he said. "He'll clean before an inspection."
Diane answered, "Then we need something he can't clean."
The next clip made every person in the room go quiet.
Diane stood over Noah's bassinet holding a small digital thermometer.
She looked directly into the hidden camera and said, "A fever would get attention."
The clip ended there.
No action followed. No harm occurred.
But the sentence was enough to hollow me out.
I had trusted her alone with him.
Officer Lee paused the video.
"Did your son ever have an unexplained fever?"
"No."
"Any unexplained illness?"
"No."
He nodded. "Good."
Good didn't feel like the right word.
My phone rang.
It was Diane.
I put it on speaker.
"Evan," she said, breathless, "you need to listen to me. Martin has been lying to both of us."
I looked at Olivia.
She motioned for me to keep her talking.
"About what?"
Diane lowered her voice.
"He doesn't want guardianship anymore. He wants Noah permanently."
I gripped the table.
"Why would my lawyer want your son?" she whispered.
Then she said the name that changed everything.
May you like
"Because Martin Keller is Claire's biological father."
The Message on Grandma's Phone
