Chapter 3 - WHAT TAYLOR KNEW
I thought I had misheard her.
“A year?”
Taylor nodded.
Her hands were shaking.
“She was four minutes inside.”
I stood so quickly that the chair scraped across the hospital floor.
“You timed it?”
“No.”
Taylor covered her face.
“God, no.”
“Mom told me afterward.”
I stared at her.
“And you let her keep watching Lily?”
Taylor looked up.
“You don’t understand what she’s like.”
I laughed once, but there was nothing funny in it.
“I understand exactly what she’s like now.”
“No, you don’t.”
Taylor’s voice dropped.
“She did things like that to me too.”
The anger inside me paused.
Not disappeared.
Paused.
Taylor told me Evelyn had always believed fear created obedience.
Cold showers.
Locked closets.
Hours standing alone in dark rooms.
Punishments disguised as “lessons.”
When Taylor was young, Evelyn called it discipline.
When Taylor grew older, she called it parenting.
“I hated her for it.”
Taylor wiped her face.
“Then I became a mother, and somehow I started listening to her.”
“Why?”
“Because she always made me feel like I was failing.”
Taylor looked toward the treatment room.
“She said Lily was too emotional.”
“She said you spoiled her.”
“She said if I didn’t make Lily tougher, she would grow up weak.”
I could barely look at her.
“And when you found out about the freezer?”
“I screamed at Mom.”
Taylor swallowed.
“She promised she would never do it again.”
“And you believed her?”
“I wanted to.”
The words were so quiet they sounded like an excuse even to Taylor.
The officer approached us.
“Mr. Mercer?”
I stood.
“The doctor says your daughter is stable.”
Relief nearly dropped me to my knees.
“Can I see her?”
“In a moment.”
The officer hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
Taylor stiffened.
“What?”
“We contacted child protective services.”
“That is standard.”
He looked at both of us.
“But when we entered the house, we found a small security camera facing the garage.”
My heart started pounding.
Taylor looked confused.
“There isn’t a camera in the garage.”
The officer’s expression became grim.
“There is.”
May you like
“And it appears to have been recording tonight.”
For the first time, Taylor looked more afraid of the truth than of her mother.
