Dana met me at Eleanor’s house the next morning.

Eleanor opened the door before we knocked.

“Come in,” she said.

“Vanessa told me not to let you through the gate.”

“Why did you?”

“Because Lily asked me why grown-ups never believe her.”

Eleanor led us to the basement.

A narrow storage room stood beneath the stairs.

Lily stopped on the last step.

“That’s the room.”

Eleanor covered her mouth.

“Vanessa told me you liked playing down here.”

“She turned the light off,” Lily said.

“I heard crying once,” Eleanor whispered.

“Vanessa said Lily was having a tantrum.”

Mason looked up at her.

“You believed Mom because you always believe Mom.”

Eleanor knelt slowly.

“I did.

I was wrong.”

She held out her hand, but Mason did not take it.

“I don’t need you to forgive me today,” she said.

“I need you to see what I do next.”

Eleanor removed a loose panel behind an old cabinet.

Inside sat a locked document box.

“Daniel began receiving mail here six months ago,” she said.

“He claimed he was having trouble with deliveries.”

Dana photographed the box.

“Do you have a key?”

“No, but Daniel does.”

A car door slammed outside.

Vanessa entered the basement with Daniel behind her.

“What is he doing here?” Vanessa demanded, pointing at me.

Dana stepped forward.

“This is an authorized visit.”

Vanessa saw the box and went still.

Daniel forced a laugh.

“Those are my business records.”

“Then you can open it,” Dana said.

“My attorney will contact you.”

Vanessa grabbed her mother’s arm.

“You had no right to show them this.”

Eleanor pulled free.

“Did you lock Lily in this room?”

“She needed discipline.”

“Did you deny her meals?”

“She lied about being hungry.”

Lily hid behind me.

Eleanor looked at Vanessa.

“She is hiding from you, and you are still calling her a liar.”

“You owe me,” Vanessa hissed.

“Who paid your mortgage when Dad left?”

“I paid it.

You borrowed against this house using papers Daniel prepared.”

Daniel moved toward the box.

“Mother, you’re confused.”

Eleanor placed herself in front of it.

“Touch that box, and I call Officer Ruiz.”

Vanessa’s voice softened.

“Mom, think about Mason.

If you help Michael, he’ll take Mason away from us.”

Mason came down the final step.

“I want to go with Dad.”

Vanessa stared at him.

“After everything I have done for you?”

“You made me watch Lily cry.”

“I kept a roof over your head!”

“You made me afraid to speak.”

Eleanor’s hand shook as she passed Dana a small key.

“Your father gave me this before he moved out,” she told Vanessa.

“He said one day I might need to stop protecting you from yourself.”

The box opened.

Inside were copies of Lily’s trust statement, a forged guardianship petition and an unsigned residential-placement agreement.

Beneath them lay a report containing my address, work schedule and financial history.

I picked up the first page.

The report was dated four months before Vanessa and I had supposedly met by chance.

I looked at her.

“You knew who I was before our first date.”

Vanessa said nothing.

Dana lifted one more document from the box.

At the bottom was my forged signature—and beside it was the name of the person who had supplied my private bank records.