Chapter 22 - CALEB’S RECORDING
The original dining-room recording remained evidence for years.
Appeals.
Retention requirements.
Then the prosecutor’s office notified me it could eventually be destroyed after archival procedures.
Did I want a copy?
I already had one lawfully through counsel.
I had never watched the full thing.
At fifty-two, I decided to.
Once.
Caleb sat with me.
The beginning surprised me.
Not the violence.
The normality.
Elaine serving coffee.
Natalie checking her phone.
Richard complaining about traffic.
Tyler asking for juice.
Megan laughing at something Caleb said.
Then slowly:
Money.
Pressure.
Entitlement.
My father standing.
His hand around my throat.
Tyler running.
The kick.
Elaine’s slap.
Natalie’s smile.
My own face.
I paused.
“I looked terrified.”
“You were.”
“I remember feeling furious.”
“Bodies are complicated.”
Then Caleb appeared in frame.
Phone already recording.
Calm.
Relative:
Rachel… did as told. Got every second.
I smiled faintly.
“You sounded like a spy.”
“I was trying not to throw up.”
I looked at him.
“You were scared?”
“Richard was my uncle. I’d spent thirty-nine years assuming there was some line he wouldn’t cross.”
There.
Witnesses have illusions too.
We finished.
I deleted my personal copy afterward.
The legal record remained where required.
May you like
No reason for the video to live in my phone forever.
Evidence can stop being a companion.
