Chapter 3
The paramedics checked Mia in the living room.
She cried every time someone touched her wrist.
I held her through all of it.
Karen sat in the kitchen with another officer, speaking softly, carefully, already trying to rebuild her mask.
“She has tantrums,” Karen said.
“She throws herself down.”
“She bruises easily.”
“She misses her mother.”
I heard every word.
Each one made me colder.
Mia’s mother, Grace, had died when Mia was nine months old.
Cancer took her fast.
Too fast.
For a year after, it was just Mia and me.
Messy house.
Late dinners.
Sleepless nights.
Then Karen came along.
Kind.
Patient.
Always bringing Mia little dresses.
Always telling me I should not do everything alone.
I believed her.
God help me, I believed her.
Officer Harris asked if we had cameras.
I shook my head.
“Only the doorbell camera.”
Karen looked relieved.
Then Mia whispered, “Bear sees.”
Everyone turned.
“What, baby?” I asked.
She pointed a shaking finger toward the shelf in the corner.
Her stuffed teddy bear sat there.
The one Grace’s sister had given her.
Brown fur.
Red bow.
Tiny black eyes.
I frowned.
Then I remembered.
Grace’s sister, Rachel, had bought it after Mia started sleepwalking.
“It’s a nanny cam,” she had said.
“Just in case.”
I had forgotten.
Karen had not known.
The color drained from Karen’s face.
Officer Harris noticed.
So did I.
I stood with Mia in my arms and took the bear from the shelf.
A small camera lens glinted in one eye.
Karen shot to her feet.
“That is illegal.”
Officer Harris stepped toward her.
“Sit down.”
Karen’s mouth trembled.
“Daniel, please.”
I stared at the bear.
My dead wife had left one more way to protect our daughter.
Rachel answered my call on the first ring.
When I told her what happened, she went silent.
Then she said, “Bring me the bear.”
Her voice shook with fury.
“And don’t let that woman near Mia again.”
The officers took the device into evidence.
Karen stopped crying after that.
She watched the bear leave the house with murder in her eyes.
May you like
Not at me.
At Mia.
