Chapter 6 - Emily’s Last RecordingEmily Dalton had known she was in danger.
That was almost all the police had at first.
The camera angle covered half the shed.
Greg was visible clearly.
Leo was visible clearly.
The other figure remained near the edge of the frame, dressed in a gray sweatshirt with the hood drawn low.
But one thing was undeniable.
Greg had not acted alone.
The person handed him supplies.
Held a flashlight.
Helped secure Leo’s arms.
And when the boy screamed for his mother, the second person said something that investigators enhanced repeatedly.
“Keep him quiet.”
A woman’s voice.
Detective Martinez played me the cleaned audio in an empty consultation room.
My blood ran cold.
“Do you recognize it?” she asked.
“No.”
“We’re asking people who knew the family.”
“Could Leo?”
“Maybe. But I’m not playing this for him unless the psychologist approves.”
“Good.”
The woman’s identity became the new center of the investigation.
Police looked at Greg’s relatives.
Former coworkers.
Neighbors.
Online contacts.
Then they found a name in his payment records.
Rebecca Shaw.
Forty-one.
Veterinary technician.
Worked at a private animal clinic approximately fifteen miles from Greg’s house.
The same clinic whose discarded materials Greg had previously stolen.
Rebecca initially denied knowing him.
Then detectives showed her phone records.
More than two hundred calls.
Thousands of messages.
She changed her story.
Yes, she knew Greg.
No, they weren’t close.
Yes, she had visited his property.
Only to check the animals.
No, she had never seen Leo harmed.
Then police searched her apartment.
They found the gray sweatshirt.
That alone was circumstantial.
They also found shoes matching prints inside the shed.
Then a backup hard drive containing copies of Greg’s videos.
Rebecca was arrested before sunset.
I learned about it while removing Leo’s final facial dressing.
“Better?” he asked.
“Much.”
“Can I see?”
“You sure?”
He nodded.
I gave him a small mirror.
Leo stared at his reflection.
There was redness.
Some swelling.
Several tiny healing incisions.
But he was still Leo.
He touched his cheek.
“They’re gone?”
“Yes.”
“Forever?”
“As far as I can tell.”
His shoulders relaxed.
Then he looked at me.
“Can bad things come back?”
The question wasn’t about parasites.
“I think memories can.”
He looked disappointed.
“But memories can get quieter.”
“How?”
“Sometimes by making new ones.”
He considered that.
“Good ones?”
“Those help.”
For the first time, I saw the corner of his mouth lift.
Then Dr. Brooks entered.
She had news.
Child Protective Services had located Leo’s biological aunt.
Emily’s older sister.
Rachel Bennett lived outside Eugene with her husband and teenage daughter.
She had been estranged from Emily for nearly three years, largely because Greg had isolated Emily from her family.
Rachel had driven through the night.
“She’s here?” Leo asked.
Brooks nodded.
He went pale.
“Does she know Mom died?”
“Yes.”
“Does she hate me?”
“No.”
“You don’t know that.”
Brooks sat beside him.
“You’re right. I don’t know every feeling she has. But I spoke with her for an hour, and the thing she kept asking was whether you were safe.”
Leo twisted the blanket.
“Can Dr. Morgan stay?”
So I stayed.
Rachel entered slowly.
She had Emily’s eyes.
That was the first thing I noticed.
The resemblance was strong enough that Leo gasped.
Rachel stopped just inside the door.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Leo didn’t move.
Neither did she.
She let him decide.
After several seconds, Leo whispered, “Aunt Rachel?”
Her face collapsed.
“Yes.”
He climbed out of bed.
Then ran to her.
Rachel dropped to her knees and caught him.
They held each other.
No one in the room spoke.
It was the first moment since Leo arrived that felt like something other than survival.
But the case was not finished.
Rebecca Shaw requested a deal within twenty-four hours.
She claimed Greg had killed Emily.
She claimed he had forced her to help with Leo.
She claimed she had been afraid of him.
Martinez didn’t believe all of it.
Neither did prosecutors.
But Rebecca provided something important.
A motive.
Emily Dalton had discovered what Greg and Rebecca were doing with the animals.
She had also discovered they were making money from the videos.
Emily threatened to report them.
According to Rebecca, Greg attacked Emily during the argument.
Rebecca helped conceal the body.
Then they realized Leo had seen too much.
Greg wanted to kill him.
Rebecca insisted they only scare him.
The video contradicted her.
“What happens if she testifies?” I asked Martinez.
“She may get a reduced sentence.”
“For helping torture a child?”
“For helping prove murder and attempted murder.”
I hated how logical that sounded.
“Leo may have to testify?”
“Possibly.”
“He’s nine.”
“I know.”
“He just buried his mother.”
“I know.”
I looked away.
Martinez softened.
“We’re going to do everything possible to avoid putting him through that.”
But Greg Dalton refused every plea offer.
He claimed the video was staged.
He claimed Emily’s death was accidental.
He claimed Leo had been injured during an “experimental treatment” after developing an infection.
And then, two weeks before trial, Greg’s defense attorney made a move none of us expected.
He requested Leo’s full medical history.
Every hospitalization.
Every school counselor report.
Every behavioral evaluation.
Every record going back years.
“They’re going after him,” Rachel said when she heard.
We were sitting in a hospital conference room during Leo’s follow-up appointment.
“They’re going to say he’s a liar.”
Brooks nodded carefully.
“That may be part of the strategy.”
Leo was drawing at the opposite end of the table.
He stopped.
“I do lie sometimes.”
Rachel turned.
“So does everybody.”
“I told Mom I brushed my teeth when I didn’t.”
“That doesn’t mean you lied about Greg.”
Leo looked at me.
“What if the judge thinks I did?”
I pulled my chair closer.
“Evidence doesn’t disappear because someone calls you a liar.”
“But Greg talks better than me.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Because he was right.
Greg was an adult.
Confident.
Manipulative.
Comfortable inventing explanations.
Leo was nine.
He got dates wrong.
Mixed up sequences.
Forgot details when scared.
Children often do.
And defense attorneys know how to turn normal uncertainty into doubt.
Three days later, Martinez called.
“You need to see something.”
“What?”
“We recovered another recording.”
“Of Leo?”
“No.”
“Emily?”
“Yes.”
My heart sped up.
“What does it show?”
“She recorded Greg secretly before she died.”
“What did he say?”
Martinez was silent for a moment.
May you like
Then she answered.
“He confessed to almost everything.”
Related Stories
