Chapter 4 - THE RED COAT
The first child interview lasted only nineteen minutes.
Lily communicated mostly through pictures.
She identified me, Grant, Renata, and her mother from separate photographs. When shown a picture of the mountain road, she covered her ears.
The interviewer did not ask whether Renata killed Claire.
Instead she said, “Tell me about your drawing.”
Lily pointed to the red coat.
Then she drew a bottle beside it.
No label.
No explanation.
The interview ended when Lily began scratching her burned scalp.
Detective Benson requested the old case file, autopsy materials, vehicle records, and emergency-call audio.
Grant wanted immediate answers.
Benson told him grief did not accelerate warrants.
Renata’s lawyer filed an assault complaint against me.
The prosecutor reviewed the bathroom footage, medical records, and my admission that I kicked her. No charge was filed while the child-protection investigation continued, but I was warned not to contact Renata.
Then an edited video appeared online.
It showed only my foot striking her and her fall into the bathtub.
The burned hair was outside the frame.
The caption called me a violent nanny manipulating a traumatized child for money.
My former employer—a pediatric rehabilitation center—placed my pending application for rehire on hold.
I nearly posted Lily’s injury photographs.
My lawyer stopped me.
“Truth released carelessly can still harm the child.”
Harris located the source video.
Renata’s phone had been positioned on the vanity before I entered.
She had recorded the confrontation she expected.
The full file included forty seconds before my arrival.
Renata heated the wand.
Lily pulled away.
Renata gripped her chin and said, “You saw nothing that night.”
The rest was obscured when Lily knocked the phone facedown.
It was not proof of murder.
It was proof the bathroom assault was connected to the crash.
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Before police could seize Renata’s cloud account, the password was changed remotely.
The recovery email belonged to Grant.
