Chapter 1 - The First Recording
Eli moved with a speed I had never seen in him. Before my thumb could hit the screen, his hand shot out, catching the edge of the phone and knocking it from my palm. It clattered against the baseboard, the screen fracturing into a spiderweb of white lines.
“You’re unstable,” Eli shouted, his voice suddenly pitching up, loud enough for the approaching paramedics to hear as tires crunched on the gravel outside. He threw his hands into the air, playing the frantic husband. “She won’t let me help her! She’s hallucinating!”
The front door burst open. Two paramedics and a police officer rushed into the kitchen, flashlights cutting through the dim morning light.
Marlene lay against the kitchen island, clutching her reddened shoulder, her breathing shallow. I stood frozen, the small bottle of white pills still clutched in my fist.
“He poured boiling water on her,” I told the officer, my voice shaking. “And he’s been drugging me. Look at the medicine cabinet—those aren’t my migraine pills.”
The officer, a middle-aged man with sharp eyes named Officer Vance, looked between Eli’s theatrical distress and my trembling hands. Eli was already weeping dry tears, pulling the crumpled red oven mitt from his pocket as if it were evidence of nothing.
“Officer, my wife suffers from severe postpartum psychosis and memory lapses,” Eli sobbed, stepping forward. “She attacked my mother with the kettle. I tried to stop her. Please, you have to secure the medicine—she’s dangerous to herself and our daughter.”
Officer Vance looked at Marlene. “Ma'am? Did your son do this?”
Marlene closed her eyes, a tear cutting a clean path through the soot on her cheek. She looked at Eli, then at me.
“My son,” Marlene whispered, her voice cracking, “was boiling water for tea. I... I dropped the kettle. Help me. My shoulder is burning.”
My breath caught. She had covered for him.
Eli’s expression flickered with brief, smug triumph. Officer Vance turned to me, his tone shifting from professional curiosity to caution. “Ma'am, step away from the counter, please. Let the medics do their job.”
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As they loaded Marlene onto a stretcher, Eli walked close to me, whispering in my ear while the officers were distracted. “You lost, Claire. Even my mother knows who protects this family. Where is June anyway? Oh, right—she’s at my sister’s house. You forgot you dropped her off last night, didn't you?”
My heart stopped. June. She wasn't here.
