Chapter 3 - What Was InsideInside Ava's box was not evidence.
That almost made it worse.
There was a bracelet made from large wooden beads, badly arranged in purple, white, and gold.
Beside it was a folded piece of paper covered in crayon.
Emily recognized it immediately.
"We made that yesterday."
Darius opened the paper.
Ava had drawn three figures.
One small.
Two tall.
Above them, Emily had written the words Ava dictated:
AVA + DADDY + NIA = FAMILY.
Darius stopped breathing for a moment.
Nia stared at the picture.
Emily looked away.
Ava, wrapped in a towel, said softly, "For Mommy Nia."
The silence that followed seemed crueler than shouting.
Nia's face trembled.
For one second Darius thought she might be genuinely ashamed.
Then she said, "This doesn't prove anything."
Darius closed the paper.
"No one said it did."
But he was already remembering the laugh.
Emily had described it.
Several departing guests had heard it.
Ava had pointed at Nia.
And Nia had tried to stop him from opening a child's gift.
Darius took Ava to the hospital himself.
Emily rode with them.
Nia insisted on coming.
Darius told her no.
It was the first time in their marriage he had refused her without discussion.
At the hospital, Ava was examined for complications from submersion. Her oxygen level remained normal. The physician recommended several hours of observation because of her age.
Rex was left at home with Malik.
Nia remained at the mansion.
For the next two hours, Darius sat beside Ava's hospital bed watching cartoons she barely noticed.
Emily sat across from him.
Neither spoke.
Finally Darius said, "Why would she do it?"
Emily answered carefully.
"I don't know."
"You think she wanted Ava dead?"
"I didn't say that."
"But you're thinking it."
"I'm thinking I watched her push a three-year-old into a pool."
Darius rubbed his face.
Ava had fallen asleep clutching the damaged bracelet.
Emily lowered her voice.
"There's something else."
Darius looked at her.
"How much more?"
"I don't know yet."
His expression hardened.
"What does that mean?"
"Two months ago, Nia asked me if Ava's nighttime allergy medicine could be doubled."
Darius stared.
"Why?"
"She said Ava wasn't sleeping."
"Ava sleeps fine."
"I know."
"Did you give it?"
"No."
Emily continued.
"Three weeks later she asked if children's diphenhydramine would make Ava drowsy enough to sleep through a flight."
Darius sat very still.
"We didn't have a flight."
"I know."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried."
"When?"
"The night of your foundation dinner. You said Nia was adjusting to being a stepmother and I needed to stop questioning every decision she made."
Darius remembered.
Not the exact conversation.
Only his irritation.
He had been late.
Nia had been upset because Emily would not leave Ava alone with her overnight.
He had told Emily she was overprotective.
A familiar sickness began rising in him.
"What else?"
Emily hesitated.
"Last week I found the pool gate unlatched after I personally locked it."
Darius stood.
"Emily."
"I couldn't prove who opened it."
"You suspected Nia."
"Yes."
"And you said nothing?"
"I started documenting things."
"Documenting?"
Emily reached into her bag.
She removed a small notebook.
Dates.
Times.
Descriptions.
Not accusations.
Observations.
Nia asking about medication.
Nia dismissing Rex from Ava's room.
The pool gate.
A bruised wrist Ava could not explain.
Darius read every entry twice.
Then his phone rang.
It was Malik.
"Sir," the butler said, "there is a problem with the security system."
Darius stepped into the hallway.
"What problem?"
"The pool camera recorded nothing."
Darius closed his eyes.
"Nothing?"
"It went offline eleven minutes before Miss Ava approached Mrs. Carter."
"When did it come back?"
Malik hesitated.
"Approximately six minutes after you entered the patio."
Darius slowly looked through the hospital-room window at sleeping Ava.
"Was there a malfunction?"
"The security company says no, sir."
Darius's voice dropped.
May you like
"Then what happened?"
Malik replied, "Someone shut it off."
Related Stories
