Three camera feeds.
Three synchronized timestamps.
A remote archive confirming that the files had been received.
She tapped the screen.
Grant’s own voice came from the phone speaker.
“Next time you’ll remember how I like my dinner.”
The room went completely still.
Grant stared at the phone.
Elaine’s face drained of color.
Dennis lowered his head.
Mara stopped the playback.
“Would you like to reconsider your answer?”
Grant looked at me.
The hatred in his eyes was immediate.
Then he remembered the officers.
“She set me up.”
There it was.
Not denial.
Not concern.
Accusation.
“She installed cameras without telling me.
She wanted this to happen.”
Mara’s voice remained calm.
“The recording shows you forcing her hand onto a hot burner.”
“You don’t understand the context.”
“What context would make that acceptable?”
Grant opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Elaine tried to rescue him.
“Families argue.
You can’t arrest a man because his wife exaggerated one bad moment.”
Mara turned toward her.
“One moment?”
Elaine stopped.
That was the second mistake.
Mara had not said there were other recordings.
Elaine had just revealed that she knew this was not the first incident.
Mara noticed.
So did I.
“Mrs.
Holloway,” Mara said, “how many bad moments have there been?”
Elaine’s mouth tightened.
“I didn’t mean it literally.”
Dennis closed his eyes.
Grant snapped at his mother.
“Stop talking.”
The command came out too sharp.
One officer moved closer to him.
Grant immediately softened his voice.
“I’m sorry.
Everyone is emotional.”
Mara asked me if I needed medical attention.
I said yes.
It was the first uncomplicated word I had spoken all night.
Yes.
A paramedic unit was already on the way.
