Because I had, almost by accident, assembled the one thing that the abuse of a child so rarely has and so desperately needs: hard, external, undeniable evidence.

The footage did for the abuse what the wire transfers did for the theft.

It took a private cruelty, of the kind that usually stays private and therefore stays unpunished, and it made it a documented fact, as solid and undeniable as an account number.

And that, I have come to believe, is the only reliable protection against the people who harm children in private: not our instincts, which can be misdirected, and not our trust, which can be betrayed, but evidence, patient and impartial, that sees what happens when the powerful believe no one is watching, and refuses to let it stay a secret.

Chapter 15 — You Showed Me Who You Were