Chapter 9 - The PhotographThe photograph came from a guest named Tasha Brooks.
Tasha was a longtime acquaintance of Nia's.
She told Grace she had taken several pictures at the party.
"Several?" Grace asked.
Tasha hesitated.
"I was photographing the decorations."
Darius sat across from her in Grace's office.
"Then why did Nia have a photograph of me?"
"She asked for it."
"When?"
"That evening."
Darius leaned forward.
"Did you photograph the pool before I came outside?"
Tasha's face changed.
"I don't know."
Grace noticed.
"You don't know, or you don't want to answer?"
Tasha looked down.
"My phone was almost full. I deleted a bunch of pictures."
Darius felt a pulse of frustration.
"Did Nia tell you to delete them?"
"No."
Too fast.
Grace said, "Tasha, if this becomes part of a criminal investigation, deleted data may still be recoverable."
Tasha went pale.
"I didn't see the push."
"That's not what I asked."
Tasha folded her hands.
"Nia called me after the party. She said Darius was blaming her. She asked if I had pictures."
"And?"
"I sent the one of him yelling."
"Anything else?"
"I told her there might be others."
"What did she say?"
Tasha whispered, "She said I should clear my phone because children deserve privacy."
Darius stared at her.
Tasha began crying.
"I thought she meant Ava."
Grace's expression remained hard.
"Do you still have the phone?"
"Yes."
"Do not alter it."
Tasha nodded.
Later, outside the office, Darius leaned against his car.
Every answer seemed to create another betrayal.
Grace joined him.
"You need to prepare yourself."
"For what?"
"People often help wrongdoing without understanding what they're helping."
"That supposed to make me feel better?"
"No."
Darius looked at her.
"Nia told Emily I did something."
Grace's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"Emily hasn't told me exactly. Nia said, 'You have no idea what he did.'"
"Could be manipulation."
"Could be."
"You think it's something else."
Darius looked toward the street.
"There are things about the year after Leah died I don't remember well."
"Because of grief?"
"Because I drank too much."
Grace said nothing.
Darius continued.
"I never hurt Ava."
"I didn't ask that."
"I know."
He rubbed his neck.
"I yelled. Broke things. Fired people. There were nights Malik took my car keys."
"You got treatment."
"Eventually."
"Nia knows."
"Everything."
Grace understood.
"She may be building a case that you're unstable."
"She doesn't have to invent all of it."
"No. That's what makes good lies dangerous."
At the mansion, Emily was sitting on the nursery floor with Ava.
Rex lay beside them.
Ava was drawing.
Emily pointed at one figure.
"Who's that?"
"Daddy."
"And that?"
"Rex."
A third figure was colored dark brown.
Emily hesitated.
"And her?"
Ava stopped drawing.
She took the black crayon and scratched over the figure until the paper tore.
Emily's heart tightened.
"Ava."
The little girl looked up.
"Nia say no tell."
Emily froze.
"What did Nia tell you not to tell?"
Ava shook her head.
"Bad."
"What was bad?"
Ava looked toward the hallway.
Rex lifted his head.
Emily kept her voice soft.
"You can tell me."
Ava whispered, "Medicine."
Emily's pulse quickened.
"What medicine?"
Ava pointed toward the bathroom cabinet.
Emily stood.
The cabinet contained the medications she managed personally.
Everything seemed normal.
Then she noticed one bottle.
The safety seal was intact.
But the label was not.
Someone had peeled it away and replaced it.
Emily held the bottle to the light.
The tablets inside were not Ava's medication.
They were an adult sedative prescribed months earlier to Nia.
May you like
Emily stopped breathing.
And from the hallway came the soft click of a door closing.
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