Chapter 4 - THE BABY LOG
The Morgan household used a shared baby-care app.
Feeds.
Diapers.
Sleep.
Pediatric appointments.
Nothing unusual.
Until Grace Bennett, Claire’s attorney, requested an export.
The app kept revision history.
Claire had never known.
Margaret had.
Several entries were edited after the fact.
A 1:40 a.m. feeding Claire logged as completed became:
attempted — baby refused.
A 4:10 a.m. diaper change disappeared.
A note Claire wrote:
Emma calm after feeding
became:
Emma difficult to settle.
Claire stared at the changes.
“Why would she do this?”
Grace answered:
“To make the record tell a different story.”
Ethan sat across the table.
His face looked older than it had a week earlier.
He had moved Margaret out of the house that first night.
A temporary no-contact order now prevented her from approaching Claire or Emma.
But he still struggled to speak about her like a stranger.
Margaret had raised him from age seven after his mother died.
“She used to keep records when I was sick,” he said quietly.
Claire looked at him.
“What kind?”
“Medication times. Temperatures. Symptoms.”
“Did she change them?”
“I don’t know.”
Grace interrupted.
“We stay with what we can prove.”
Claire nodded.
The revision log showed Margaret editing twenty-nine baby-care entries over seventeen days.
Not all changes were sinister.
Some corrected times.
Some added notes.
But nine edits removed care Claire had provided.
Five added language suggesting confusion.
Three changed timing in ways that made two feedings appear dangerously close together.
Claire turned to Ethan.
“Did she show you these?”
He swallowed.
“Screenshots.”
“What did you think?”
“I thought you were exhausted.”
Claire looked away.
He had not thought:
Claire is dangerous.
Not at first.
He had thought:
Claire needs help.
Margaret had turned help into surveillance.
Then Grace found a folder in Ethan’s email.
Messages from Margaret.
Subject line:
CLAIRE — PATTERN.
May you like
Seventeen emails.
The first dated five days before Emma was even born.
