Chapter 4 - The Falling of the Mask
The police station was even colder than the hospital.
They had brought Evelyn in for questioning an hour after the video was shown.
I sat in the waiting area, my eyes fixed on the clock.
Brandon was in a separate room, giving a formal statement.
I didn't want to talk to him.
I didn't want him to touch me.
He had chosen her over me a thousand times before this, and the cost was our daughter's blood.
Suddenly, the doors to the interrogation wing opened.
Two officers were leading Evelyn out.
She wasn't wearing her "grieving grandmother" mask anymore.
Her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were wild with a frantic, animalistic rage.
She saw me sitting there.
She lunged toward me, but the officers held her back.
"You witch!" she screamed, her voice echoing off the tile walls.
"You ruined everything!"
"She was supposed to be mine!"
"You weren't supposed to have that camera!"
The officers struggled to pull her away.
"It was for her own good!" Evelyn shrieked.
"She would have been better off without a mother like you!"
"I would have raised her properly!"
"I would have made her a queen!"
I stood up, feeling a strange sense of calm.
The fear was gone.
The doubt was gone.
Only the mother remained.
I walked right up to her, ignoring the officers' warnings.
I looked her straight in the eyes.
"You will never see her again," I said, my voice a low, steady blade.
"You will die in a cell, alone."
"And Nancy will grow up knowing that her 'magic fish' were just the lies of a sick, pathetic woman."
Evelyn spat at me, but it missed.
They dragged her away, her screams fading as the heavy steel doors closed behind her.
Officer Elliott approached me, looking sheepish.
"Mrs. Miller, I... I want to apologize."
"We should have looked deeper before making assumptions."
"The magnets she 'found' in your nightstand... we've confirmed they were from a set she bought at a hobby shop two days ago."
"She had the receipt in her purse."
I didn't care about his apology.
I didn't care about the receipt.
"Can I go back to my daughter now?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "We've cleared you of all suspicion."
"Your husband is... well, he's still in there."
"I don't have a husband," I said.
I turned and walked out of the station.
I drove back to the hospital, the sunrise beginning to bleed over the horizon.
When I reached Nancy’s room, it was quiet.
She was awake, propped up by pillows.
She looked so small in that big hospital bed.
"Mommy?" she whispered.
I ran to her side and took her hand.
"I'm here, baby. I'm right here."
"Are the fish gone?" she asked, her eyes searching mine.
"Yes, sweetheart," I said, kissing her forehead.
"The fish are gone."
"The magic was a mistake."
"But I'm here now, and I'm never going to let anything hurt you again."
She drifted back to sleep, her breathing steady.
A few minutes later, the door opened quietly.
It was Brandon.
He looked like he had aged ten years in a single night.
He stayed by the door, not daring to come closer.
"Sam..." he whispered.
"I am so, so sorry."
"I should have believed you."
"I should have seen what she was."
I didn't look at him.
I didn't move away from Nancy.
"You should have," I agreed.
May you like
"But you didn't."
"And now, you need to leave."
