Chapter 5 - The kid watch
Gloria hated the watch from the day I gave it to Lizzy.
It was not an expensive smartwatch.
No social media.
No open internet.
Four approved contacts.
Me.
Gloria.
Walt.
Ben? No Ben in this story.
Her school office.
GPS.
Emergency call.
I bought it because Lizzy had once wandered behind a neighbor’s shed during a block party and scared everyone for fifteen minutes.
Gloria called it:
“Electronic paranoia.”
I called it fifty-nine dollars on sale.
That night, the watch became important evidence.
Call log:
12:17 a.m.
Duration:
1 minute, 46 seconds.
Location:
My parents’ house.
Battery died at 12:20.
The app did not automatically record calls.
Good.
No magic evidence.
But my phone log established that Lizzy contacted me before I entered the house.
I also had a text I sent my mother at 12:21:
Where is Lizzy? She just called me crying.
Unread until 12:44.
My father’s phone showed two missed calls from me while he slept.
Those timestamps mattered.
Gloria later claimed the closet confinement lasted:
“Maybe twenty minutes.”
Time contradicted her.
Lizzy told the forensic interviewer she went into the closet:
“Before Grandma put shiny shoes on.”
Gloria had left for dinner at 8:05 according to her restaurant receipt.
Walt told investigators he remembered the argument before the local evening news started.
Seven o’clock hour.
The exact minute remained uncertain.
The broad truth did not.
Several hours.
Dark storage room.
Outside latch.
May you like
No access to food, water, or bathroom.
That was enough.
