Chapter 3 - Six Golden FlowersRichard found Owen standing beside the hospital's parking garage.
The security guard looked exhausted.
His dark suit was wrinkled. Sweat darkened his shirt collar despite the cool evening air.
"Owen."
"Mr. Ward."
"You said you knew something."
Owen glanced toward the hospital entrance.
"I wasn't upstairs when it happened."
"Then what do you know?"
"The camera system."
Richard waited.
Owen rubbed his palms together.
"The footage your son showed you isn't the complete recording."
Richard felt his pulse quicken.
"Where's the rest?"
Owen swallowed.
"There's a gap."
"A gap?"
"Forty-two seconds. Somebody removed them from the export."
"Who?"
Owen shook his head.
"I don't know."
Richard stared at him.
"You've worked for this family for eleven years."
"I know."
"Then don't insult me by pretending forty-two seconds disappear from a security recording by accident."
Owen looked down.
Richard stepped closer.
"What happened before I came through those doors?"
Owen's answer was barely audible.
"I heard the boy scream."
Richard waited for more.
But the guard said nothing.
"Did you see Claire push him?"
"No."
"Did you hear her threaten him?"
Owen's jaw tightened.
"I can't say."
Richard studied him.
"Can't, or won't?"
Owen looked directly at him.
"I have a family too, sir."
Richard suddenly understood that Owen wasn't merely nervous about losing his job.
He was frightened of somebody.
Before Richard could ask another question, Owen's phone rang.
The guard looked at the screen.
The color drained from his face.
Daniel.
Owen silenced the call.
"I shouldn't have come."
He walked quickly toward the parking garage exit.
Richard didn't follow.
He had spent decades learning that frightened people rarely revealed everything when chased.
Instead, he called his attorney, Evelyn Price.
Evelyn had handled Richard's business affairs for years, but she immediately recommended a separate family-law attorney and criminal counsel.
"This is no longer just a family disagreement," she told him. "Preserve every message. Don't confront Claire or Daniel. And don't ask anyone to alter, retrieve, or delete footage outside proper legal channels."
Richard agreed.
Then he returned upstairs.
Eli was awake.
The boy sat against two pillows, his left wrist supported in a soft splint.
A children's cartoon played quietly on the television.
But Eli wasn't watching it.
He was drawing.
Richard took a seat beside him.
"Hey, buddy."
Eli looked up.
"Did Daddy leave?"
"He's speaking with some people."
"Is he mad?"
Richard paused.
"He's worried."
Eli lowered his eyes.
"He's always worried when Claire gets upset."
Richard looked at the paper.
It showed a staircase.
At the bottom stood a small stick figure wearing a white shirt.
At the top was a tall figure colored dark red.
And beside the steps were six yellow circles.
"What are those?" Richard asked gently.
Eli followed his gaze.
"The flowers."
"Flowers?"
"The gold flowers in the carpet."
Richard pictured the grand staircase.
The dark-brown carpet contained a repeating pattern of elaborate golden flowers, woven into the center of every third step.
His wife had chosen the design years earlier.
Eli pointed at the circles.
"Claire makes me count them."
Richard remained still.
"When?"
"When I'm bad."
"What happens when you count them?"
Eli pressed his crayon harder against the paper.
"I have to stand there."
"On the stairs?"
He nodded.
"For how long?"
"Until she says."
Richard looked at the six circles again.
"What happens if you move?"
The little boy's eyes filled.
"She makes me start over."
Richard felt anger rising.
He forced himself to keep his voice calm.
"Did you have to count them today?"
Eli nodded.
"But I heard your car."
Richard leaned forward.
"What happened then?"
"I wanted to see you."
"So you ran?"
"Yes."
"And Claire?"
Eli touched the red figure.
"She said I wasn't finished."
Richard waited.
Eli's voice dropped.
"She grabbed me."
"Where?"
"My arm."
"Then what?"
The boy's face twisted.
"She pushed."
Richard took a slow breath.
"Thank you for telling me."
Eli looked terrified.
"Are you going to tell Daddy?"
"People who can keep you safe need to know."
The boy immediately pulled his knees toward his chest.
"He'll say I made it up."
Richard didn't ask why Eli believed that.
He was beginning to understand.
A nurse entered to check Eli's wrist, ending the conversation naturally.
Richard left the drawing on the bedside table.
He knew that questioning the boy repeatedly could make future investigative interviews harder.
A trained child interviewer needed to hear Eli's account without adults unintentionally shaping it.
As the nurse adjusted his pillow, Eli suddenly called out.
"Grandpa?"
Richard turned.
"Yes?"
"Do you remember when I fell last month?"
Richard's stomach tightened.
"What fall?"
"The one Claire told Daddy about."
Richard searched his memory.
Daniel had mentioned Eli tripping while playing.
There had been a bruise on the child's knee.
Nothing more.
At least, that was what Richard had been told.
Eli looked at the six yellow flowers on his drawing.
"That time, I only got to four."
Richard could barely speak.
"What happened when you got to four?"
Eli stared at his bandaged wrist.
"She pushed me back up."
A silence settled over the room.
May you like
Then the child whispered one final sentence.
"Grandpa, this wasn't the first time."
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