Chapter 25 - THE SETUP
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Mark sat in the truck for ten minutes, perfectly silent. The audio file had stopped playing, but the muffled splash echoed in the cab.
He had defended the woman who raised him. He had kicked his wife out of their home. He had allowed his newborn daughter to be placed in state custody, all because he believed Linda’s perfectly crafted lie.
"She dropped the capsule," Mark whispered, his voice devoid of all emotion. "She lunged for it. Lily slipped out of her arm into the bowl. And instead of pulling my daughter out... she held the lid down to build pressure for the flush."
"She didn't want to kill her," Sarah said, wiping her own tears. "She just didn't care if she died."
Mark slowly looked up at Sarah. The betrayal in his eyes had morphed into a cold, terrifying rage.
"The custody hearing is tomorrow at nine," Mark said, starting the truck's engine. "But Linda is meeting the CPS supervisor at the house in an hour to do the final home inspection before the judge signs the order."
"Mark, we need to take this to the police."
"The police will take a report and start an investigation," Mark said, shifting the truck into drive. "CPS will still keep Lily in foster care until the investigation concludes. That could take months."
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He looked at Sarah, his jaw tight. "We are going to play this tape. But we aren't playing it for the police. We are playing it for the caseworker who took our daughter away."
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