The officer’s voice sharpened.
“Where?”
Tyler looked toward my mother.
Linda said, “This has gotten completely out of proportion.”
The officer turned to her.
“A six-year-old child has been moved from the beach without her mother’s knowledge.
Nothing about that is out of proportion.”
The words landed hard.
My mother crossed her arms.
“We are her family.”
I said, “Being family does not mean you get to take my child.”
For the first time, Linda’s expression changed from embarrassment to anger.
“You make everything sound sinister.”
I stepped closer.
“You came home without her and told me you forgot her beside the ocean.”
“You panic about everything.”
“So you lied to prove a point?”
Her eyes flicked away.
That was when I understood.
Not all of it.
Enough.
This had not begun as a mistake.
The lifeguard rewound the footage farther.
“Wait,” he said.
“There’s more.”
We watched my mother and Mia arrive from the direction of the rental house.
Mia skipped beside her, carrying the bucket.
They stopped near the blue umbrella closest to the stand.
Linda checked her phone.
Less than a minute later, Tyler appeared from the opposite direction.
He had not followed them from the house.
He had already been waiting down the beach.
The officer looked at him.
“You arranged to meet them here?”
Tyler’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
The lifeguard pointed to the monitor.
“You walked directly to them.”
“I saw them.”
“You were looking at your phone before you reached them.”
“So?”
“So it looks like you knew where to go.”
Tyler exhaled hard.
My mother stepped in.
“I texted him.”
There it was.
The first clean piece of truth.
I looked at Linda.
“Why?”
She pressed her lips together.
The officer asked instead, “What did you ask him to do?”
Linda’s voice became defensive.
“To take Mia for a walk.”
“Why didn’t you tell her mother?”
“Because Emma says no to everything.”
I almost laughed.
