2:34 call to Sarah.
2:41 photo.
2:43 leaving the house.
I showed them the pictures on my phone.
The bruise looked even darker in the harsh hospital light.
The officer asked, ‘How long were you alone with the baby before you came here?’
‘Less than an hour,’ I said.
‘And he was already screaming when they left.’
He nodded and wrote it down.
When they questioned Sarah behind the curtain, her voice rose enough for us to hear pieces.
‘This is because of her.’
‘She never liked me.’
‘I was exhausted, but I would never hurt my baby.’
Michael stood in the hallway, both hands pressed against the wall, head bowed.
I wanted to touch his shoulder, but I was afraid he would break apart.
Then he lifted his head.
‘The monitor,’ he said.
I looked at him.
‘What?’
‘The nursery monitor.
It records movement clips.
I set it up when we brought him home because Sarah was scared he would stop breathing.’
His voice shook harder with every word.
‘It saves to the app for a day.’
Sarah stopped talking behind the curtain.
We all heard the silence.
The officer stepped out.
‘Mr.
Carter, do you have access to that footage?’
Michael’s hands were trembling so badly he could barely unlock his phone.
He scrolled, tapped, swallowed, and stopped.
The color left his face.
‘Michael?’ I said.
He turned the phone toward the officer, not toward me.
I did not see the whole thing then.
I only saw three seconds reflected in Michael’s eyes.
The baby on the changing table.
Sarah leaning over him.
Her hands moving too hard.
Michael made a sound like he might be sick.
Sarah came out from behind the curtain.
‘Give me that.’
The officer stepped between them.
‘Do not touch the phone.’
‘I said give it to me.’
‘Sarah,’ Michael whispered.
She looked at him, and for one suspended second I thought she might tell the truth.
Not because she was brave, but because there was nowhere left to put the lie.
Instead, she pointed at me.
‘She did this.
She is trying to take my baby.’
The officer said, ‘The video is from this morning.’
Her hand dropped.
There it was.
The first crack.
The officer asked Michael to send the clip directly to him.
