Chapter 5 - CALEB’S BIRTHDAYDetectives reconstructed the party almost minute by minute.
It began at 4:00 p.m.
By 4:30, most guests had arrived.
Bethany was drinking wine before five.
That was not criminal.
It became relevant because multiple witnesses described her becoming sharper as the evening continued.
At approximately 6:35, Caleb opened presents.
One gift was a dinosaur target game with suction darts.
Rosie wanted to try.
Caleb let her.
The children shot darts at a cardboard volcano.
A guest recorded part of it.
Rosie laughing.
Caleb helping her load the launcher.
Bethany in the background drinking.
At 6:51, Rosie knocked over the dinosaur gift bag.
Nothing important broke.
One plastic dinosaur cracked.
Rosie immediately picked it up.
A guest heard Bethany say:
“Of course.”
At 6:56, Bethany took the target game from the children.
At 7:00, another guest saw Rosie near the dining-room window.
Bethany crouched in front of her.
Nobody could hear the words.
At 7:03, Daniel’s phone captured thirteen seconds accidentally while he was replying to a message.
Audio only.
Bethany’s voice:
“See? It doesn’t hurt.”
Rosie crying.
Another voice, almost certainly my mother:
“Bethany, enough.”
Then Bethany:
“She’s fine.”
That recording became important because Mom later said she knew nothing had happened before I carried Rosie from the bathroom.
At 7:06, one guest saw Bethany walking toward the guest hallway with Rosie several steps ahead.
At 7:10, Bethany returned alone.
At 7:12, I started looking.
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At 7:14, I found Rosie.
The entire event that changed our family occupied less than twenty minutes.
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