Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Claimed It Was an AccidentBy the time the ambulance doors closed, Lucy had stopped screaming.
That frightened Daniel almost as much as the fall itself.
She sat strapped into a pediatric restraint on the stretcher, clutching a soft blanket that a paramedic had wrapped around her.
Her little cheeks were wet.
Every few seconds, she looked toward her father.
“Daddy?”
“Right here, sweetheart.”
Daniel sat beside her with his injured arm supported against his chest.
His white shirt was stained with blood where broken glass had sliced across his shoulder.
The paramedic had warned him not to move his wrist.
He kept trying anyway.
“Please keep that arm still, Mr. Hale.”
“Is she hurt?”
“We're watching her closely. She's alert, and that's encouraging, but she needs a full hospital evaluation.”
Daniel nodded, then immediately asked again.
“Did she hit her head?”
The paramedic answered patiently.
“We'll have the doctors check everything.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
He could still see Lucy falling.
But what disturbed him even more was the moment before.
Vivienne had not stumbled.
She had not reached desperately for a slipping child.
Her arms had extended beyond the railing.
Then her fingers had opened.
Daniel remembered the exact movement.
He wished he didn't.
At the hospital, doctors examined Lucy for signs of head, neck, and internal injuries. They monitored her neurological responses, checked her limbs, and kept her under observation.
No obvious serious injury appeared during the initial examination.
Daniel was told that this was extraordinarily fortunate, not a reason to dismiss what had happened.
His own injuries were less forgiving.
A fractured right wrist.
Deep cuts requiring stitches.
Severely bruised ribs.
The attending physician asked how he had been hurt.
“I caught my daughter when someone dropped her from a balcony.”
The physician looked at him for a moment.
Then she wrote down his words.
A police detective arrived that evening.
Her name was Detective Elena Brooks, a woman in her forties whose calm expression suggested she had learned not to confuse quietness with sympathy.
She waited until Lucy was resting before approaching Daniel.
“I need you to tell me exactly what happened.”
Daniel described the wedding reception.
The second-floor balcony.
The chandeliers.
Vivienne's hands.
He explained how he had noticed Lucy's pink dress above the railing and started moving before her aunt released her.
Brooks listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she asked, “How far were you from where your daughter landed?”
“Maybe twelve or fifteen feet when I started running. I was close to the sofa.”
“Did you see any struggle?”
“No.”
“Did the child climb onto the railing?”
“No.”
“Did Vivienne appear to lose her balance?”
Daniel looked directly at her.
“She opened her hands.”
Brooks wrote something in her notebook.
“Have you and Ms. Cross had any disagreements?”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Are you asking whether I have a reason to lie?”
“I'm asking because defense attorneys will ask that question later.”
The answer unsettled him.
Later.
There would be a later.
Vivienne might have an opportunity to deny everything.
“She is my wife's older sister,” Daniel said. “Rebecca died eight months ago. Vivienne has helped with Lucy since then.”
Brooks looked up.
“Have you ever suspected she'd hurt your daughter?”
“No.”
The word tasted bitter.
He thought about the past few months.
Vivienne bringing expensive toys.
Vivienne insisting that Lucy needed more time with her mother's family.
Vivienne asking questions about Rebecca's estate.
Daniel had considered her intrusive.
Possessive, perhaps.
But dangerous?
Never.
Brooks turned another page.
“Ms. Cross says Lucy suddenly leaned backward while being shown the chandelier. She claims she tried to hold on but lost her grip.”
Daniel stared at her.
“That's a lie.”
“She also says you couldn't have seen her hands clearly from the ballroom.”
“I saw everything.”
“Then we need evidence that establishes what happened.”
Daniel remembered the railing.
“The ribbon.”
Brooks frowned.
“What ribbon?”
“Part of Lucy's dress. It's caught near the top of the glass railing. I told the officer.”
Brooks made a note.
“We've secured the balcony. Our scene team will document anything they find.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Did anyone touch it?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
His shoulders relaxed slightly.
Then she added, “There's a problem with the surveillance footage.”
His stomach tightened again.
“What problem?”
“The camera covering the south side of the upper balcony wasn't recording during the incident.”
Daniel stared at her.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“We're investigating the system.”
“Aster House has cameras everywhere.”
“I know.”
“Then why wasn't that one working?”
Brooks did not answer immediately.
Instead, she studied his face.
“Has anyone ever asked you about your daughter's inheritance?”
Daniel blinked.
“What?”
“Her inheritance. Her mother's estate. Property held in trust.”
He felt suddenly cold.
“Vivienne asked about it a few weeks ago.”
“What did she want to know?”
“She wanted to know whether I could sell Lucy's interest in the family business.”
Brooks's pen stopped moving.
“What did you tell her?”
“That it wasn't mine to sell.”
“And how did she react?”
Daniel remembered Vivienne standing in his kitchen, smiling with her mouth but not her eyes.
Money tied up in a child's name is such a waste, Daniel. Especially when the family needs flexibility.
He had told her the conversation was over.
Now he looked toward Lucy's hospital bed.
His daughter stirred beneath her blanket.
“Detective,” he whispered, “what happens to her inheritance if she dies?”
Brooks watched him carefully.
“That's something we need to establish.”
Daniel looked at the tiny pink dress folded inside a hospital belongings bag.
May you like
Its satin waist ribbon was torn.
And for the first time, he wondered whether Vivienne had been trying to get rid of Lucy for longer than he knew.
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