Chapter 8 - The Duplicate TabletThe duplicate kitten backpack had been packed carefully.
Inside were schoolbooks matching April’s grade level, a pink water bottle, spare clothes, and a purple-cased tablet with an identical crack painted across the screen.
The device contained no recordings of Mark drugging Eleanor.
Instead, it held manufactured videos showing Eleanor screaming at April.
In one, a woman resembling Eleanor struck the child’s backpack against a wall.
Her face remained partly hidden.
In another, April’s voice cried, “Mom, stop!”
Audio experts determined the voice had been built from school-presentation recordings.
The fake tablet was designed to replace the real one after the courtroom reveal or before forensic examination.
If successful, Mark could claim April’s evidence had been manipulated by Eleanor.
The original tablet would disappear.
The child’s credibility would collapse.
Jenna’s courthouse position gave her access to the evidence room.
But why had she connected the real tablet to the courtroom screen instead of switching it immediately?
Detective Reed reviewed courtroom footage.
Jenna accepted April’s device.
For one second, she looked at the purple case and froze.
Then she connected it.
Her reaction suggested she expected the duplicate.
Someone failed to complete the switch before April entered court.
Mark’s sudden panic may have come from realizing the wrong tablet had reached the screen.
Jenna did not know the real recording would play.
After court, she attempted to correct the failure by disappearing with the replacement kit.
The abandoned vehicle near Dr. Crane’s motel contained a map of the courthouse basement and April’s temporary protected residence.
Jenna planned to reach the child after the hearing.
Eleanor and April were moved again.
This time, only Judge Parker, Detective Reed, and two federal officers knew the location.
April hated leaving.
“Every time we move, Dad still finds things.”
Eleanor knelt beside her.
“He won’t find this place.”
“You don’t know.”
The child was right.
Promises without certainty could feel like another adult lie.
“I don’t know,” Eleanor corrected. “But more people are protecting us now, and I will tell you when I’m scared instead of pretending nothing can happen.”
April considered that.
“Okay.”
Trust began with honest limits.
At the new residence, April asked to see her tablet.
Reed allowed her to view a forensic copy while the original remained sealed.
She opened a drawing app.
A purple flower appeared.
April tapped the center five times.
A second hidden folder opened.
No technician had discovered it.
“I made this one myself,” she said.
Inside were short videos recorded before Mark began using the device for evidence storage.
One showed Jenna entering the Mitchell home during a birthday party.
Eleanor remembered her as a woman introduced by Brooke as a courthouse friend.
Jenna carried a gift for April.
A kitten backpack.
The same design later copied for the replacement kit.
Another video showed Richard Hayes standing in the hallway.
He wore a gray beard and glasses, but Eleanor recognized him.
April asked who he was.
Mark answered, “A business investor.”
Richard looked directly toward the tablet.
“Children record too much.”
The final video showed Jenna alone with April.
She knelt beside the girl.
“If your mom ever starts acting strange, save everything on this tablet.”
Eleanor stared.
Jenna had warned April before the poisoning became obvious.
She may have been working against Richard secretly.
Or she wanted the child to collect evidence for another purpose.
In the video, April asked:
“Will it help Mom?”
Jenna answered:
“It might help me fix what my father did to your grandmother.”
Jenna carried guilt from Marianne’s death.
Her involvement was not simple loyalty to Richard.
She may have entered the conspiracy to expose it.
Then why provide court access, duplicate devices, and forged filings?
Perhaps she had played both sides.
The hidden folder contained an unsent message from Jenna.
April, if the wrong tablet reaches court, say the word sunflower. Judge Parker will know what it means.
April had never used the word.
Judge Parker was asked privately.
Her face changed when she heard it.
“Sunflower was Marianne Hayes’s emergency code.”
Eleanor stared.
“How do you know that?”
Judge Parker closed the courtroom door.
May you like
“Because your mother once brought me evidence against Richard.”
👉 The duplicate tablet exposed Jenna’s role in the setup, but Judge Parker’s knowledge of Marianne’s secret code revealed she had been connected to Eleanor’s family long before the custody hearing.
