Chapter 1 — “You Told Me Sophie Was Standing There”
Little Sophie stood beside the front door crying and clutching her stuffed bunny tightly against her chest.
Vanessa stood several feet away.
“Go stand over there until your father gets home.”
Sophie shook her head.
“I didn’t do it.”
“Sophie.”
“I didn’t!”
The front door opened.
Daniel walked inside carrying his laptop bag.
The second he saw his daughter crying, he stopped.
“What happened?”
Sophie immediately ran toward him.
Vanessa sighed.
“She damaged the hallway table.”
Daniel looked toward the narrow wooden table beside the staircase.
A long fresh scrape ran across its polished surface.
The table had belonged to Daniel’s mother, Margaret.
It was one of the few pieces of furniture he had kept after she died.
“Sophie?”
The little girl shook her head desperately.
“I didn’t touch it.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“She was standing right beside it with her toys.”
“I wasn’t!”
Daniel crouched.
“Okay.”
He examined the scratch.
It wasn’t a crayon mark.
It looked as though something metal had been dragged across the wood.
Then Daniel remembered the hallway security camera.
“We don’t need to argue.”
He pulled out his phone.
Vanessa looked certain.
“Fine.”
Daniel opened the recording.
10:17 AM.
The table was undamaged.
No Sophie.
10:23.
Still empty.
Then someone entered the hallway.
Vanessa.
She was carrying a large leather handbag and a rectangular metal case.
Daniel looked up.
Vanessa frowned.
On the video, Vanessa placed the metal case on the table.
Her phone rang.
She grabbed the case quickly.
One metal corner dragged across the wood.
A long scratch appeared instantly.
Vanessa froze.
Daniel rewound.
Played it again.
The sound of the scrape was faint but clear.
Seven minutes later, Sophie entered the hallway for the first time.
She noticed the mark.
Then called for Vanessa.
Daniel lowered the phone.
“You told me Sophie was standing there.”
Vanessa stared at the recording.
“I…”
Sophie whispered:
“I told you.”
Daniel put his arm around her.
Vanessa’s confidence disappeared completely.
“I genuinely didn’t realize I did that.”
Daniel looked toward the metal case.
“What’s inside it?”
Vanessa immediately became nervous again.
That reaction caught Daniel’s attention.
“Vanessa?”
She looked at the case.
Then toward the damaged table.
“Something your mother asked me never to show you unless a certain person came back.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“What person?”
Vanessa whispered:
“A woman named Evelyn Shaw.”