It looked like a family simply loving a child, patiently, for a long time.

Which is exactly what it was.

The state’s investigation moved forward, and the security footage made the outcome close to inevitable.

Facing felony child endangerment charges, Arthur Vance accepted a plea agreement.

It carried a heavy fine, and mandatory anger-management and child-safety counseling, and a term of probation, and a court-ordered restraining order prohibiting him from coming within five hundred feet of Lucas.

Eleanor faced a secondary charge related to her failure to act, and received probation and court-mandated counseling of her own.