Chapter 10 - The Pantry Video
Tasha sent the file to Marcus before anyone could stop her.
The video was thirty-seven seconds long.
Marcus watched seven.
Then he had to sit down.
The camera shook. Tasha had filmed from the hallway.
Simone stood in front of the pantry door with one hand on the knob.
Inside, Nia was crying.
Not screaming.
Crying quietly.
“Say it,” Simone demanded.
“I’m sorry.”
“For?”
“I touched Caleb’s cookies.”
“Again.”
“I’m sorry I touched Caleb’s cookies.”
“And?”
A pause.
“And I’m greedy.”
Marcus stopped the video.
His hands were numb.
He looked up.
Simone was crying now.
“For God’s sake, Marcus, it was one time.”
Tasha shook her head. “No, it wasn’t.”
Simone snapped toward her. “You little liar.”
Tasha stepped back.
Evan moved beside her.
“Don’t.”
The front door opened.
Two police officers entered after Mrs. Alvarez called about the disturbance.
The next thirty minutes moved too fast and too slow.
Questions.
Names.
Separate rooms.
Marcus sent the video and the recording to himself, Dana, and a secure cloud folder.
Simone accused everyone of exaggerating.
Tasha told the officers she had come because Simone contacted her that afternoon and asked her to sign a statement saying the pantry video was staged.
That was why she was upstairs.
She had refused.
Marcus stared at his wife.
“You brought her here tonight to make her lie?”
Simone shouted, “I brought her here to fix what she broke!”
One officer’s head lifted.
Silence.
Simone realized what she had said.
Too late.
Nia and Caleb remained with Denise that night.
Marcus stayed at a hotel.
Simone stayed in the house.
By morning, a child welfare investigator had called.
By noon, Marcus had filed for a protective custody order regarding Nia.
Evan filed an emergency petition regarding Caleb.
Marcus should have felt relieved.
Instead, he felt hollow.
At 3:11 p.m., Nia’s school called.
The counselor’s voice was careful.
“Mr. Reed, Nia told us something today that we’re required to report.”
Marcus closed his office door.
“What?”
“There was another incident. Earlier this month.”
His body went cold.
“What incident?”
A pause.
“Nia says Simone drove her somewhere after school and left her alone.”
“Where?”
The counselor inhaled.
“At Alicia’s grave.”
Marcus gripped the desk.
“How long?”
“Nia isn’t sure.”
Then the counselor added softly, “She says it was after dark when Simone came back.”
Marcus could not breathe.
A ten-year-old child.
Alone in a cemetery.
May you like
At night.
And Simone had told him that evening they were late because traffic was bad.
