He must have installed that hidden recorder with a heavy heart, praying it would sit in the garage for decades and record nothing but ordinary dinners.

Instead it recorded the worst seventeen minutes of my life, and in doing so it reached out from beyond his death and saved the daughter he could no longer protect in person.

Every parent wants to protect their child from a danger they can see coming and cannot name.

My father found a way to do it after he was gone.

I will spend the rest of my life inside the gift of that.

Chapter 6 — Secure the House First