Chapter 12: Third Step From the Bottom

Clyde plugged the drive into an old laptop and turned the screen toward me.

"I'm going to play it once," he said. "Then you can decide what to do with me."

"With you?"

"Watch first."

The picture was gray and a little grainy.

It showed the Pennington front walk from across the street, with the porch at the top and the steps running down to the lawn.

A date sat in the corner of the screen.

It was the afternoon I had been arrested, three years ago.

At first nothing moved.

Then the front door opened, and I walked out.

I did not recognize myself for a moment.

My hair was longer, and I was wearing the green coat I had loved.

I had a suitcase in one hand.

"That's the day I found out," I said slowly. "The day I told him I was taking Milo to my mother's."

"I know."

Brice came out behind me and stood on the porch, with his arms folded.

Cassidy came after him and stopped at the top of the steps, with her hands clasped in front of her.

On the screen I turned and said something to them.

Brice shook his head.

I did not push anybody.

I walked down the steps, past Cassidy, with a clear foot of air between us.

I walked across the lawn to my car and opened the trunk and put the suitcase in.

I had my back to the house.

"Watch her," Clyde said.

At the top of the steps, Cassidy looked left.

She looked right.

She looked across the street, straight at the lens of the camera she did not know was there.

Then she took one step down, and another.

She sat on the third step from the bottom and tucked her hair behind her ear.

She looked at the second-floor window.

Keep reading free with an account. Start No More Husband, No More Son from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.