Chapter 6 - DANIEL’S PHONEDaniel called me the next morning.
I did not answer.
He called again.
Then texted:
I have video. I also have other things you need to know. I will give everything to police. I am sorry.
I almost threw the phone.
Other things?
What other things?
Julia was beside me.
“Don’t call him.”
“I want to know.”
“Police first.”
She was right.
Detective Marissa Cole—no relation—was assigned the child-injury investigation.
Daniel contacted her independently.
He surrendered the original phone for extraction.
The birthday confrontation video was clear.
Not perfect cinematic evidence.
A real phone recording.
Shaking.
People moving.
Voices overlapping.
But it showed enough.
I carried Rosie into the room.
Her cheek visible.
Bethany made the “toughening up” statement.
I slapped her.
Mom grabbed my shoulder as I tried to leave.
I knocked her hand away.
Dad stood.
Took the glass.
Threw it.
The glass struck the wall perhaps eighteen inches from my head.
Daniel continued recording.
The important detail came earlier.
The video began almost forty seconds before I entered the dining room.
Daniel had already been recording Bethany.
Why?
He told police:
“Because I thought she was going to lose control again.”
May you like
Again.
That word opened another investigation.
Related Stories
