Chapter 8: What Sandra Had Planned
Reyes came out of the interview room eleven minutes later.
She walked Marcus to the small room where he had sat that morning.
The paper cup was gone.
The table was clean.
She sat down.
"I need to tell you something, and I need you to stay seated while I do."
He sat.
"Greg Paulson says your wife approached him approximately eight months ago.
He claims she told him she was planning to leave the marriage and that she wanted — his word — leverage."
Marcus said nothing.
"He says Sandra told him she intended to use the videos as proof that you were an absent father.
That you were never home.
That Lily's distress was a result of your neglect, not her actions."
The room was very quiet.
"She was going to use Lily's crying," Marcus said.
"In court.
Against me."
"That is what Paulson is claiming, yes.
He says she asked him to compile the footage and hold it somewhere you couldn't access it.
He agreed in exchange for—" Reyes paused.
"He agreed in exchange for being given copies for his own use."
Marcus looked at the table.
"She made a deal with him," he said.
"She gave him access to my daughter so she could win a custody case."
"We have not yet verified Paulson's account independently.
He is a man trying to negotiate a reduced charge.
But the file organization on his laptop is consistent with what he describes.
The footage is sorted by emotional intensity.
The most distressing clips are in a separate subfolder labeled — " she checked her notes — "labeled 'court.'"
Marcus's hands were flat on the table.
"She sat across from me at dinner," he said.
"Every night.
She let me kiss Lily goodnight.
She watched me leave for work every morning and then—"
He stopped.
He looked at Reyes.
"Is she going to try to claim I knew?" he said.
"Is that part of it?"
"Paulson has not made that claim.
And the evidence does not support it.
Your name does not appear in any of the communications we've reviewed.
You were the target, Mr.
Cole.
Not a participant."
He nodded slowly.
"What happens to her now?"
"Sandra is facing charges of child cruelty, child endangerment, and conspiracy.
If Paulson's account is verified, additional charges related to the custody scheme may follow.
Your mother faces the same initial charges.
Your brother is being brought in tonight — receiving and possessing that material carries its own serious charges."
"And Paulson?"
"He will be charged.
Whatever deal his attorney negotiates will not remove the laptop evidence.
He filmed your daughter through a window.
That does not go away."
Marcus sat with that for a moment.
Then he said: "I need to go home."
"Of course."
"Lily will be awake.
I told her I'd be back."
Reyes stood when he did.
"Mr.
Cole." She held out her hand.
"You called 911 the moment you walked through that door.
You didn't hesitate.
Whatever happens in the legal process from here — that matters."
He shook her hand.
"It doesn't feel like enough," he said.
"It never does," she said.
"But it was the right thing.
And she knows you came."
He drove home in the dark.
Patricia Odom met him at the door.
She spoke quietly.
"She waited up," Patricia said.
"She said she knew you'd come back."
He walked into the living room.
Lily was curled on the sofa under a blanket, the penguin program still on, her eyes heavy but open.
She looked up at him.
"You came back," she said.
"I said I would."
She shifted to make room for him on the sofa.
He sat down beside her.
She leaned against his arm.
On the screen, a penguin was walking across the ice toward its chick.
Neither of them said anything.
He put his arm around her.
May you like
She was asleep within minutes.
He sat there in the dark and the quiet, his daughter breathing steadily against his side, and he did not move for a very long time.
