Chapter 3 - WHY I WAS RECORDING HERI had not planned to catch an attempted attack.
I planned to catch a liar.
Three weeks earlier my two-year-old daughter, Ivy, began saying:
“Dana mad milk.”
Toddlers say strange things.
I did not immediately assume abuse.
I asked:
“What happened with the milk?”
Ivy poured imaginary liquid onto the carpet and whispered:
“Dirty.”
Then:
“Dana mad.”
Dana explained that Ivy had thrown a cup during lunch.
Reasonable.
Children throw things.
A week later, Ivy started crying when Dana arrived.
Not screaming.
Quiet crying.
She would stand behind my legs and say:
“Mommy home.”
Dana laughed.
“Separation phase.”
Also reasonable.
Maybe.
Then Ivy woke from a nap with a bruise on her upper arm.
Dana said she had bumped the changing table.
Ivy said:
“Dana squeeze.”
My husband, Eric, was traveling for work.
I called Luke.
He did not say:
Fire her immediately.
He asked:
“Do you have reason to think Ivy is in immediate danger?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then don’t leave them alone until you do.”
That was what I did.
For six days.
I worked from home.
Canceled two client meetings.
Moved Dana’s hours so she was never alone with Ivy.
She noticed.
Of course.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re hovering.”
“I’m pregnant.”
“You’ve been pregnant six months.”
I laughed weakly.
She watched me.
That look stayed with me.
Then I found something stranger.
Three bottles of children’s antihistamine in the bathroom cabinet.
We did not use that brand.
Dana said:
“They’re mine.”
“For what?”
“My allergies.”
“Children’s liquid?”
“I don’t like pills.”
Possible.
But the bottles were nearly empty.
Luke told me to stop interrogating.
“Either fire her based on trust being gone or gather enough information to understand what you’re accusing her of.”
“I don’t want to destroy someone’s livelihood because my toddler said ‘Dana squeeze.’”
“Then record your own interactions with her if lawful and appropriate, but do not turn your home into a surveillance operation without understanding the rules.”
He gave me the recorder for one confrontation.
One.
I planned to tell Dana I wanted to review what had been happening with Ivy.
I was going to record the conversation because Dana frequently denied exact things she had said later.
That was all.
May you like
Then she carried milk into the nursery.
And everything changed.
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