“But another photograph, from the same device, was taken forty-seven seconds earlier.” The clerk carried that second print to Judge Bennett, and I watched Michael’s face go pale, because he knew, before the judge even looked down, what that photograph showed.

Chapter 7 — The Camera in the Smoke Detector

The image showed Rachel’s hand gripping my wrist.

Her fingers were visibly pressing into my skin, hard enough to whiten her own knuckles, while my arm was turned away from her in the unmistakable posture of someone trying to pull free.

The photograph Michael had submitted showed only the bruise, afterward, isolated, a mysterious injury on a confused old woman.

This one showed the bruise being made.