Chapter 7 - THE VIDEODetective Brooks showed me the footage after it had been formally recovered.
The stairwell camera did not capture the kitchen directly.
It captured the staircase, upper landing, and a strip of the downstairs hallway.
At 5:18 p.m., Meadow appeared from the kitchen.
Fast.
She looked behind her.
Dennis entered the frame.
Meadow ran up three steps.
He caught her right arm.
She twisted.
No audio—our interior camera had audio disabled by design.
Meadow pulled free.
Dennis reached again.
His palm made contact between her shoulder blades.
Then Meadow went forward.
Her foot missed the next step.
She turned sideways.
Fell.
The camera recorded every impact.
I watched once.
Never again voluntarily.
At the top of the frame, Dennis froze.
Serena appeared from downstairs.
Her mouth opened.
She rushed toward Meadow.
Dennis remained standing for four full seconds.
Four.
Then he descended.
The clip continued.
Serena knelt beside Meadow.
Dennis paced.
Serena pointed toward the phone in his hand.
Then toward Meadow.
Later analysis could not read lips reliably enough to turn silent movement into exact dialogue.
Fine.
The video did not need invented subtitles.
It showed contact.
It showed the fall.
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It showed response.
And the system logs showed Dennis deleted it after Meadow reached the hospital.
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