Chapter 3 - Thirty-Seven Videos
The memory card contained thirty-seven videos.
The oldest was seven months old.
The newest had been recorded that afternoon.
At Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, doctors found no emergency injury, but Lily was dehydrated, underweight for her recent growth pattern, and terrified of closed doors.
Detective Brooks watched three videos before interviewing Grant.
She placed one still image on the table.
Lily sat on the pink blanket.
A kitchen timer beside her showed forty-five minutes.
Vivian's voice came from behind the camera.
"Say it."
Lily whispered, "I am difficult."
Brooks looked at Grant.
"Who taught her that?"
His lawyer answered.
"My client will not speculate."
A second image.
Lily crying.
Grant closing the basement door.
A third.
Vivian pouring water onto the floor after Lily had finished wiping it.
Exactly like the party.
Grant's face tightened.
"You're acting like we beat her."
Brooks leaned back.
"I'm acting like adults isolated a three-year-old in a basement, filmed her, and trained her to describe herself as bad."
"It was discipline."
"Recommended by whom?"
Silence.
At the hospital, Rebecca Sloan arrived before sunrise.
Grant's older sister had not been invited to the reception.
She sat beside Lily.
"Daddy mad?" Lily asked.
"No."
"Vivian mad?"
"They're not coming in here."
Lily relaxed.
That reaction hurt Rebecca more than crying would have.
Stallone stayed in a private waiting room until a social worker confirmed Lily was safe.
Rebecca found him there.
"My brother invited you because he wanted everyone impressed."
"I walked into the right room at the wrong time."
"No," Rebecca said. "You walked into the wrong room at exactly the right time."
Then Detective Brooks entered.
"We found another recording."
Grant's lawyer had already been told.
Rebecca stood.
"Another basement video?"
"No."
Brooks opened her tablet.
"This one was uploaded automatically to Grant's cloud."
In the video, Grant stood in the doorway holding a framed photograph of Lily's late mother, Caroline.
Vivian said, "Tell Daddy what happens when girls embarrass us."
Lily answered through tears.
"Downstairs."
"And?"
"No Mommy picture."
Grant lifted Caroline's photograph out of reach.
"Then behave."
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Brooks paused the video.
May you like
Grant could no longer claim Vivian had acted alone.
And somebody had gone to great trouble to build a record of Lily being "difficult."
