Chapter 6 - THE CAMERA THEY FORGOT ABOUT
Three days after the hearing, Detective Alvarez called and asked if Dad and I could come to the station.
She had something she wanted us to hear.
I thought it would be another witness.
It was a baby monitor.
More specifically, it was the cloud backup from the expensive nursery camera Ryan had installed in the second bedroom at the apartment when I was six months pregnant. He had bragged about the security features for days.
What he forgot was that the camera also recorded when manually turned on from the app.
Linda had used it more than once without realizing the footage synced automatically.
Alvarez played the first clip.
I was sitting in the nursery rocker, one hand on my stomach, telling Ryan I wouldn’t sign anything until my father or Mr. Harris reviewed it.
Ryan walked into frame and yanked the papers out of my hand so hard they tore.
“You don’t need your father’s permission to be my wife,” he said.
Then Linda’s voice came from behind the camera. “If she signs after the baby gets here, we can deal with the rest later.”
My mouth went dry.
Alvarez played another clip from two weeks later.
I was standing near the crib, weak and barefoot. Ryan blocked the doorway.
“You don’t leave this apartment unless I say so,” he said.
I heard myself answer, very small, “I need air.”
Linda stepped in and said, “You need discipline.”
In the next second, Ryan gripped my arm and shoved me down into the chair.
Dad lurched forward in his seat like he’d forgotten we were in a police interview room and not face-to-face with him.
Alvarez paused the video.
“There’s more.”
The third clip changed everything.
The room was empty. Only Ryan and Linda were in frame, talking while they folded baby clothes.
Ryan sounded angry. “I’m telling you, she’s getting harder to control.”
Linda didn’t look up. “Then stop waiting for her to make this easy.”
“She keeps threatening to call her father.”
Linda snorted. “The last one threatened too.”
Ryan went quiet.
I looked at the detective. “The last one?”
She rewound and played it again.
“The last one threatened too.”
Dad turned slowly toward Alvarez. “Who is she talking about?”
The detective exhaled. “That’s why I wanted you both here.”
She slid a file across the table.
On top was a photograph of a smiling brunette woman holding a wedding bouquet.
Hannah Keller.
May you like
Ryan’s first wife.
Status: deceased.
