Chapter 3 - REENA’S VERSION
Reena did not deny locking the basement.
She denied that it was abuse.
Her lawyer’s first statement to CPS said:
The basement was a child-safe recreation area.
The exterior lock prevented the children from accessing stairs unsupervised.
The children were placed there briefly after dangerous behavior.
Drew had opened a window and left home without permission.
His leg injury occurred previously in an accidental fall.
Food restriction was exaggerated.
Peter had longstanding hostility toward Reena due to unresolved grief over Aaron.
That last part was partly true.
I did dislike Reena.
Especially after Aaron died.
Not because I blamed her for the crash.
I didn’t.
Aaron drove alone on wet highway after a late shift.
Truck hydroplaned.
No one else at fault.
But I blamed Reena for making his final months miserable.
That belief made me biased.
Reena’s lawyer would use it.
Then she produced texts from me.
One from during Aaron’s separation:
You are destroying him.
I had written that.
Another:
If those kids ever need somewhere safe, my door is open.
Written after Aaron told me Reena was “too hard” on Drew.
That sounded prophetic now.
At the time, it was angry brother talk.
Then worse:
If I find out you’re keeping Aaron from his kids, I’ll make sure everybody knows what kind of person you are.
Ugly.
I had apologized later.
But it existed.
The family court judge would see.
I could not pretend I had entered this clean.
Reena requested immediate return of children.
Denied pending medical and safety investigation.
She received supervised contact rights through agency.
No direct calls yet because forensic interview pending.
Then her account of Drew’s leg:
He fell jumping from the fourth basement step twelve days earlier.
She wrapped it.
He seemed better.
She planned to take him to urgent care but did not because he could bear weight “intermittently.”
Why no school?
She had kept him home claiming stomach flu.
School records confirmed ten absences in twelve days.
That was bad.
Then Lily’s hunger.
Reena said Lily refused lunch during tantrum and had eaten snacks later.
The hospital noted mild dehydration, not starvation.
Important.
Do not exaggerate.
The issue was punitive withholding and unsafe confinement, not weeks of famine.
Then old injuries.
Reena said Aaron caused them.
Which?
A wrist fracture the previous year.
A shoulder bruise.
A head bump.
She claimed Aaron grabbed Drew too roughly during custody exchange.
Was there documentation?
One urgent-care record.
Drew had a wrist fracture.
History entered:
“Fall while with father, per mother.”
No direct witness.
Aaron denied causing it.
The fracture had been treated.
That one could have happened during his parenting time.
Maybe.
Then an older fibula fracture on current X-ray.
No medical record.
Could have been unnoticed.
When?
Radiology estimate broad.
Maybe six to twelve months.
Aaron could have been alive for part of range.
Not enough yet.
Then current tibia fracture:
10–18 days.
Aaron dead five months.
Obviously not him.
But Reena did not claim Aaron caused current injury.
She said accidental stair fall.
So central secret not confirmed yet.
We needed a prior injury she attributed to Aaron that occurred after his death.
Did one exist?
The Child Advocacy Center interview would answer only what kids remembered.
Medical records might.
Then I received Aaron’s old cloud backup.
His laptop had been in my attic since the funeral.
I had not opened it beyond photos.
Police asked for consent to preserve.
I agreed after they obtained appropriate warrant/consent process through estate? I was executor of his small estate.
They imaged it.
I did not browse first.
Good.
Later Detective Bennett told me there were messages relevant.
One between Aaron and Reena six months before death.
AARON:
Why is the basement door locked from outside?
REENA:
Because Drew keeps coming upstairs after timeout.
AARON:
Then stop locking him down there.
REENA:
You don’t get to tell me how to discipline when you’re barely here.
AARON:
Unlock the door.
REENA:
He’s fine.
AARON:
This is not fine.
My chest tightened.
The same words.
I am not fine.
Aaron had seen it.
He had confronted.
Then another:
AARON:
Drew says you didn’t let him eat dinner.
REENA:
He threw food.
AARON:
So give him another meal later.
REENA:
Stop undermining me.
Aaron:
Food is not a reward.
I put phone down.
My brother had known pieces.
Why didn’t he call CPS?
Maybe he feared custody war.
Maybe he doubted himself.
Maybe he wanted to fix marriage.
Not heroic.
Human.
Then one message from me to Aaron around same time.
ME:
Don’t turn every discipline disagreement into abuse because you’re pissed at Reena.
I stared.
There it was.
My mistake.
My brother had raised concern.
I minimized.
I sat at kitchen table until Drew wheeled himself in.
“What are you doing?”
“Thinking.”
“About Dad?”
“Yes.”
He looked worried.
“Was Dad bad?”
I closed laptop.
“I knew your dad a long time.”
“Was he?”
“He made mistakes.”
“Mom says he broke stuff.”
“He broke a cabinet once.”
Drew’s eyes widened.
“People?”
“No.”
“As far as I know, your dad did not break people.”
That phrase stayed with him.
Later he repeated it to therapist.
I worried I had influenced.
The therapist said:
“You qualified appropriately.”
Still.
I became obsessive about not feeding him answers.
Then the Child Advocacy Center appointment arrived.
Two days later.
Drew first.
Lily separately, with developmentally appropriate interview.
I sat outside.
For ninety-three minutes.
I heard nothing.
When Drew emerged, he looked exhausted.
He asked for chicken nuggets.
That was all.
No one told me details immediately.
Good.
The next day Detective Bennett called.
“Peter, we need to talk about something Drew disclosed.”
My hands went cold.
“What?”
“A previous arm injury.”
“When?”
“After Aaron died.”
May you like
There.
The first impossible date.
