Chapter 3 — My Sister Told Me To Check The Camera
Emily called her sister at eleven that night from the stairs, with the door shut.
KaylaYou're kidding. Ninety-one?
EmilyI counted the labels. I have a log.
KaylaAnd Ryan said what — that you're tired?
EmilyHe said it's the exhaustion talking.
KaylaI'm going to say something and you're not going to like it.
EmilySay it.
KaylaEm, she wasn't nervous. Was she nervous?
EmilyNo.
KaylaNot when you walked in. Not when you screamed at her. Not on the way out.
EmilyShe said she'd see me Thursday.
KaylaPeople are nervous the first time they do something. She wasn't nervous.
Emily didn't say anything for a while.
KaylaDo you still have the camera I gave you? The one for the nursery?
EmilyIt's on the shelf. I stopped checking it in week four.
KaylaIs it still recording?
EmilyI don't know.
KaylaEmily. Go and look.
EmilyKayla, if I open that app I'm the kind of person who spies on her husband's mother.
KaylaYou're the kind of person who's been writing "something is wrong with me" in a notebook for two months. I've seen it.
EmilyThat's not fair.
KaylaOpen the app. I'll stay on the phone.
Emily went down to the kitchen in the dark and sat at the island and opened it. It made her log in twice.
KaylaAnything?
EmilyThere's a calendar. Thirty days. There are green bars on almost every day.
KaylaPick one.
EmilyTuesday. Four-twelve in the afternoon.
KaylaWhat do you see?
EmilyShe's carrying him. She's patting his back. It's — it's nothing, Kayla, it's just her walking —
Emily stopped.
KaylaWhat. What is it.
EmilyShe stopped walking. She's looking at the door.
KaylaLooking at it how?
EmilyLike she's checking if someone's coming.
On the screen, Diane listened toward the hallway for three full seconds, then crossed to the dresser, unzipped the insulated bag, and took out a bottle.
KaylaEm? Talk to me.
EmilyShe's pouring it into the diaper pail.
KaylaOh my God.
EmilyShe's putting the cap back on. She's putting the empty bottle back in the bag. She's zipping it up.
KaylaEmily —
EmilyI was in the shower. I timed it. Six minutes.
KaylaHow far back does that calendar go?
EmilyThirty days.
KaylaThen you're going to be up all night. Start writing them down.