What they were actually doing was documenting, in a form I could save and forward and hand to a lawyer, exactly what kind of people they were and exactly what they had done.

I did not reply to the photograph.

I saved it.

And then I kept reading, because the family was not finished making my case for me.

Chapter 8 — Silence Makes Them Careless

A few minutes later, Megan added me to the family group chat.

I do not think she meant for me to be able to read what came next; I think, more likely, they had simply forgotten I was in it, or did not care, so certain were they of their own safety.

Patricia wrote that a woman who could not maintain peace in the days immediately after childbirth had no business trying to maintain a household.