Chapter 6 - The Person June Unexpectedly Defended
Caleb assumed June would want Meredith destroyed.
He was wrong.
When he finally met June at her attorney’s office, she looked exhausted.
A bruise remained beneath her ribs where he had kicked her.
He could barely look at it.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
June did not make the apology easier for him.
“You attacked me while I was protecting your daughter.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t ask one question.”
“I know.”
“You believed her because she sounded confident.”
“Yes.”
June leaned back carefully.
“I’m not ready to accept your apology.”
“I understand.”
“That doesn’t mean I want you ruined.”
Caleb looked up.
He had already been advised that his assault on June could carry consequences separate from Meredith’s case.
June had given police an accurate statement.
She had not exaggerated.
She had not minimized it either.
That surprised him.
Then she surprised him again.
“Meredith wasn’t always like this with Elara.”
Caleb said nothing.
“When I started working there, she could calm that baby faster than anyone except you.”
“Why are you telling me that?”
“Because if you turn her into a monster in your head, you’ll miss when this changed.”
June had noticed a shift about five months earlier.
Meredith became increasingly angry when Elara reached milestones.
Sitting.
Crawling.
Recognizing voices.
The happier Caleb became, the more distant Meredith seemed.
Then Laurel’s birthday approached.
Meredith began spending longer periods in the nursery alone.
“She talked to Elara sometimes,” June said.
“What did she say?”
“I couldn’t always hear.”
“Anything you remember?”
June hesitated.
“One time I heard, ‘You got everything she didn’t.’”
Caleb stared at her.
“She said that to a baby?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought she was talking about Laurel.”
“Weren’t you?”
“I don’t know.”
June looked ashamed.
“I kept trying to make things fit a grief explanation because you did.”
That mattered.
June had seen more than Caleb.
But she had also hesitated.
Not because she didn’t care.
Because accusing a dead woman’s sister of resenting an infant was enormous.
Then June mentioned something Caleb had forgotten completely.
Two months before the iron incident, Meredith had insisted they celebrate Elara’s first Christmas using Laurel’s old baby ornaments.
When Caleb said he wanted something new for his daughter, Meredith left the room.
Later that evening, the nursery camera lost eleven minutes.
June had saved what happened immediately before the gap.
May you like
Meredith stood beneath the camera holding one of Laurel’s ornaments.
And she was crying.
