Chapter 3 - THE GLASS SCREEN
"What happened?" David asked, setting his briefcase down on the marble console table.
His voice was tired, carrying the weight of a twelve-hour workday, but the air in the room instantly shifted.
Clara didn't stand up. She couldn't, not quickly, not with Madison clinging to her neck like a lifeline.
She pointed a single trembling finger straight up the carpeted stairs.
"Your mother pushed our daughter," Clara said.
Evelyn didn't flinch. She took one step down the stairs, her movements graceful, practiced, and calm.
"She fell by herself, David," Evelyn said softly, her tone shifting into a gentle, motherly coaxing.
"Clara is hysterical again. You know how she overreacts whenever the child makes a sound."
David looked at his mother, then down at his wife.
Madison was sobbing into Clara’s green sweater, her small shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
"David, please," Evelyn added, reaching out a soft, manicured hand. "I came here to help with the dinner party. Why would I touch the child?"
Clara lifted her chin, her knuckles white where she held Madison.
"Then watch the camera!" Clara shouted.
David froze.
His eyes drifted upward toward the ceiling corner, where a small black dome camera sat mounted into the crown molding.
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He pulled his smartphone from his suit pocket.
His thumb swiped across the illuminated glass screen, opening the home security app.
