Chapter 16 - The Lie in the File
The school file contained a statement from Caleb dated seven months earlier.
Nia pushes me when Dad isn’t home.
The handwriting belonged to Caleb.
The words did not.
Caleb sat in a small interview room with Mara Bell, Marcus, and a child advocate.
He picked at the cuff of his hoodie.
“Mom told me if I didn’t write it, she would tell Dad I broke his watch.”
Marcus remembered the watch.
A gift from Alicia.
He had found it cracked on his dresser.
Simone said Nia had probably touched it.
Marcus had believed no one, exactly.
He had just sighed and put it away.
Now every small uncertainty felt poisoned.
“Did Nia ever push you?” the advocate asked.
Caleb shook his head.
“Did your mom tell you why she wanted you to write that?”
He whispered, “She said Nia needed help.”
Nia sat in another room with Denise.
Marcus wanted to go to her.
He forced himself to stay.
Caleb looked up.
“Am I bad?”
Marcus’s heart broke.
“No.”
“But I lied.”
“You were scared.”
“I should’ve told you.”
“That was my job. I should’ve made it safe to tell me.”
The advocate gave Marcus a brief look.
Caleb started crying.
“I don’t want Mom to go to jail.”
Marcus moved beside him.
“You don’t have to decide what happens to your mom.”
“Are you mad at her?”
“Yes.”
“Do you hate her?”
Marcus paused.
“I hate what she did. I don’t know what I feel about everything else yet.”
That answer was ugly.
It was also true.
By the end of the day, the school began correcting Nia’s file.
The investigator expanded the case.
Evan’s attorney requested supervised visitation with Caleb.
And Marcus filed for divorce.
He stared at the petition before signing.
Marriage dissolved into boxes.
Property.
Debt.
Children.
Dates.
Reasons.
No line existed for: I thought I knew her.
No line for: my daughter learned to ask permission to eat.
That night, Nia asked, “Are you divorcing Simone because of me?”
Marcus felt the question like a blade.
“No.”
“But if she didn’t do stuff to me—”
“If she did none of this, we wouldn’t be here. But you did not cause it. Her choices caused it.”
Nia nodded slowly.
Then asked, “Will Caleb still be my brother?”
Marcus’s eyes burned.
“Yes.”
He hoped it was true.
His phone rang.
Evan.
Marcus answered.
“I got a call from my lawyer,” Evan said.
“What happened?”
“Simone’s asking the court to place Caleb with her sister instead of me.”
Marcus sat up.
“Why?”
Evan’s voice went flat.
“Because she submitted a drug test saying I relapsed.”
Marcus’s stomach dropped.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
May you like
“Yes.”
Then Evan said, “The lab on the report doesn’t exist.”
