Chapter 2 - The Hidden Evidence
Peter held his hands up in a defensive gesture as the massive police officer closed the distance between them.
He calmly told the officer to look through the glass window and observe the horrific, weeks-old injuries on the boy's tiny body.
Peter explained that no child could fake a spiral fracture, nor could they fake the deep, hollowed cheeks of a starving toddler.
Reena quickly interrupted, weeping loudly as she claimed that Peter had abducted them days ago and inflicted those terrible injuries himself.
She produced a folded piece of official legal paper from her expensive handbag and shoved it aggressively into the second officer's chest.
She declared that she had absolute, sole legal custody of her late husband's children, and Peter had zero legal rights to even be in the building.
The lead officer grabbed Peter roughly by the shoulder, twisting his arm behind his back with unnecessary and painful force.
Peter gritted his teeth, demanding that the doctors be allowed to testify about the timeline of the horrific abuse.
Just as the cold steel cuffs clicked tightly around Peter's wrists, a sharp, frail voice cut through the chaotic noise of the lobby.
Everyone froze and turned to see little Drew standing precariously in the doorway of the medical room, leaning heavily on a metal IV pole.
The boy was pale and shaking violently, but his dark eyes were locked onto his stepmother with a fiery intensity that mirrored his late father.
Drew reached deep into the pocket of his filthy, torn jeans and pulled out a small, blood-stained digital wristwatch.
Peter immediately recognized the heavy metal watch as the exact one his brother Aaron had worn every single day until his supposed fatal heart attack.
Drew looked directly at the lead police officer and whispered that his dad had taught him how to use the secret camera hidden inside the dial.
He proudly stated that he had recorded everything Reena had done in the basement room before she locked the heavy deadbolt.
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Reena's flawless mask of grieving motherhood completely evaporated in a single, terrifying second, leaving behind a look of pure, unadulterated panic.
She suddenly lunged aggressively across the hospital floor, completely ignoring the police officers as she violently tackled her injured stepson to snatch the watch.
