I raised it to my lips, pretended to drink, and the instant she turned to reach for a napkin I poured the entire cup into a potted poinsettia on the counter.

Then I asked, in my most doddering voice, whether I might use the restroom — and slipped back down into the basement instead.

Chapter 8 — The Video

At quarter to midnight, I recorded a second file — a video this time. I had Levi state his full name, the date, the names of the people holding him, and what they had been giving him.

I kept the chain in the frame, and enough of his condition to make the truth undeniable, and I did not linger on any of it longer than the law would need.

I have never wanted to un-see something so badly in my life. But I have spent fifty years learning that the record is what saves you — that the thing you can prove is worth more than the thing you merely survived — and so I made the record.

“Dad, don’t go out the front,” Levi whispered.