Chapter 2 - The Champagne Toast
The first officer through the door was Elena Ruiz.
She took in the balloons, the cake, the silent guests, and the crowd near the stairs.
Then she raised her voice.
“Nobody leaves until we identify witnesses.”
Diane came down one step.
“This is my home.”
Officer Ruiz looked up.
“I understand.”
“My granddaughter is upstairs.”
“Then please stay downstairs while medical personnel work.”
Diane blinked.
A few minutes earlier she had insisted only Madison counted as a real granddaughter.
Now the word was useful again.
Frank stepped beside her.
“I know the sheriff.”
Ruiz did not react.
“Then he’ll appreciate you cooperating.”
The younger officer behind her looked like he wanted to smile.
Frank did not.
The paramedics reached Lily.
I stayed beside her.
One checked her pupils.
“Lily, can you tell me your full name?”
“Lily Carter.”
“Do you know where you are?”
“Grandma’s.”
“Do you know what day it is?”
She looked toward me.
“That’s okay,” he said gently.
He checked her neck, then her arms.
There were darkening marks near her upper left arm.
Her cheek was swollen.
The inside of her lip had split.
She complained that her head hurt.
“We’re transporting.”
“Yes.”
Then he asked:
“Do you know how she was injured?”
“No.”
Lily whispered:
“Grandpa grabbed.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
The paramedic raised a hand toward me before I could ask anything.
“Let’s not question her right now.”
He was right.
They moved her carefully.
When the stretcher reached the staircase, Diane tried to approach.
“Lily, sweetheart.”
Officer Ruiz blocked her.
Diane looked offended.
“I’m her grandmother.”
“Please step back.”
“She needs someone calm.”
I stared.
Ruiz repeated:
“Step back.”
Diane did.
Frank did not.
He followed the stretcher into the main party room.
“This is ridiculous. She woke up confused and fell.”
I stopped.
“You told me she got upset.”
He looked.
“What?”
“Upstairs. You said she got upset.”
“So?”
“Now she fell.”
“Those aren’t contradictory.”
Officer Ruiz stepped between us.
“Mr. Carter, please stop discussing the incident with witnesses present.”
Then Diane did something even worse.
She started defending the party.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want Rachel turning today into another drama.”
Nicole whispered:
“Mom.”
Diane ignored her.
“My real granddaughter should not have her birthday destroyed because Rachel cannot control her child.”
The entire room went silent.
Madison started crying.
I stared at Diane.
“You mean Lily isn’t real because I’m adopted.”
Diane’s eyes widened.
“I did not say that.”
“You just said Madison is your real granddaughter.”
“I meant the birthday girl.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Frank stepped in.
“She’s upset.”
Officer Ruiz turned.
“Mr. Carter.”
He stopped.
Then a man near the fireplace lifted his hand.
The photographer.
His name was Aaron Mills.
“Officer?”
Ruiz faced him.
“I saw them go upstairs.”
Diane froze.
Aaron continued.
“Both of them.”
Frank said:
“You’re mistaken.”
Aaron looked directly at him.
“No.”
Then:
“My photographs are timestamped.”
He lowered camera.
“I took a candid shot around 3:42. They were both near the staircase.”
Then:
“At 3:44 they weren’t downstairs anymore.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
Then another guest spoke.
“More than ten minutes.”
A woman named Carol Jennings.
“I noticed because Diane had been telling us not to cut cake until she came back.”
Frank’s face tightened.
Aaron continued.
“When they returned, Frank poured champagne.”
Diane said:
“So?”
Aaron looked uncomfortable.
“I took a picture because you two clinked glasses.”
My skin went cold.
The toast.
Then Carol raised hand.
“I heard Frank say something.”
Officer Ruiz:
“What?”
Carol looked at me.
Then at Frank.
“Finally, she’ll look just as worthless as she really is.”
A second guest spoke.
“I heard it too.”
Frank’s face hardened.
“That had nothing to do with Lily.”
Ruiz asked:
“What did it refer to?”
He did not answer.
Then Madison’s voice came from beside Nicole.
Small.
“Grandma had Lily’s sparkly thing.”
Nicole crouched.
“What?”
Madison pointed toward Diane’s clutch.
“The hair clip.”
The glitter barrette.
Diane’s hand moved instinctively toward her purse.
Officer Ruiz noticed.
“Ma’am, please do not touch that bag.”
Diane stared.
“It’s mine.”
“Put it on the table.”
Frank said:
“You need a warrant.”
Ruiz answered calmly:
“I’m asking her not to alter or remove anything while we determine what happened to a six year old child.”
Diane placed the clutch down.
Her hands were no longer steady.
Then Madison whispered:
“Grandma said Lily wasn’t coming back for pictures.”
Nicole went pale.
“When?”
“On stairs.”
Ruiz immediately stopped further questions.
“We’ll have a trained child interviewer speak with Madison later. Please don’t ask her anything else about what she saw.”
Good.
No adults building details.
Then Aaron said:
“There’s another thing.”
Ruiz turned.
“I had a remote camera pointed toward the staircase.”
My heart started pounding.
“It was for family entrance shots.”
“Does it record continuously?”
“Video.”
Diane stared at him.
“No audio.”
Frank exhaled slightly.
Aaron continued.
“But it will show who went upstairs and when.”
Then:
“And I think it caught Diane coming back down with the barrette.”
Nobody spoke.
Officer Ruiz took his information and asked him not to access or edit the card further.
The paramedics rolled Lily toward the front door.
I followed.
Frank called after me:
“Rachel, if you take this outside family, you will regret it.”
Officer Ruiz turned so quickly that even Frank seemed surprised.
“What did you just say?”
He lifted both hands.
“I meant emotionally.”
Ruiz took the champagne glass from him.
“I think you’re done drinking.”
Outside, red and blue emergency lights washed across the windows.
Lily reached toward me.
I took her hand.
Behind the glass, the balloons still floated.
The cake still waited.
And on the table beside Officer Ruiz sat Diane’s elegant black clutch.
May you like
Inside it was the barrette she had told me she never touched.
Continue to the next part: The remote camera shows Diane and Frank entering Lily’s room together, then returning downstairs while Frank appears to lock the door behind them.
