Chapter 5 - The Tablet Was Never Broken
Grace came to the rental three days later.
Not as an employee.
She wanted Margaret to have several personal items from the mansion.
Daniel offered to retrieve them himself.
Grace shook her head.
“Your mother asked for me.”
That distinction mattered.
While Daniel packed medications and clothing, Grace stood beside Lisa at the kitchen island.
Lisa used her tablet constantly now.
The device worked perfectly.
Daniel noticed.
“You said Vanessa told you it needed repair?”
Grace nodded.
“Six weeks ago.”
“Did you see anything wrong with it?”
“No.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Grace looked at him.
“I did.”
Daniel frowned.
“When?”
“The morning you left for Chicago.”
He remembered rushing to the airport.
Grace had followed him toward the garage saying something about Lisa’s tablet.
Daniel had barely looked up.
“Vanessa said she had it handled.”
Grace gave a tired smile.
“Exactly.”
Daniel sat down.
Grace pulled out her own phone.
“I don’t have secret recordings, Daniel. I have work texts.”
She showed him messages she had sent.
Lisa’s device is missing again. She is upset.
Mrs. Hale keeps asking for her communication board. Vanessa says she doesn’t need it at meals.
Can we talk when you get home?
Daniel’s replies were humiliating.
Vanessa handles their care.
Ask Vanessa.
I’m in meetings.
Thanks.
He had not ignored warning signs because they were hidden.
He had outsourced listening.
Grace continued.
“Lisa’s school speech therapist called the house twice.”
“Why?”
“Because the tablet stopped coming to school.”
Daniel looked at Lisa.
She nodded.
“What did Vanessa say?”
“That the therapist was encouraging dependence on technology.”
Daniel stared.
Lisa had been born with a neurological condition that severely limited functional speech, but her comprehension was strong.
Her AAC device was not a toy.
It was language.
“Why would Vanessa want it gone?”
Grace’s expression changed.
“I think because Lisa had started typing things Vanessa didn’t want you reading.”
Daniel looked at his daughter.
“What things?”
Lisa froze.
Grace immediately stepped back.
“She should tell you when she wants.”
Daniel felt the old instinct.
Ask again.
Push for an answer.
Get certainty.
Instead he nodded.
“Okay.”
Lisa looked surprised.
That evening, long after Grace left, Lisa sat beside him on the sofa.
She opened her tablet.
Typed.
Deleted.
Typed again.
Finally she turned the screen toward him.
May you like
VANESSA HURTS GRANDMA WHEN YOU GO.
Daniel’s hands went cold.
