He wasn’t there?
“But why?” Ethan asked. “You just went to the store, and Lauren was there…”
The woman shifted. “Your mom isn’t supposed to know about me yet, remember?”
Ryan lowered his voice. “We’ll tell her when the time is right. And we don’t need her making assumptions because of this.”
“But I tried that trick,” Ethan said. “Lauren wasn’t watching. She went inside to get her phone.”
“I was gone a few seconds,” Lauren said defensively.
Ryan waved it off. “That’s not the point. We keep it simple. You don’t say I wasn’t there. You don’t say she went inside. You don’t say you were doing a trick. We stick to the story. Okay?”
Ethan hesitated. “Okay.”
Ryan patted his shoulder. “Get some sleep, champ.”
Lauren forced a smile. “You’re brave.”
They left him there—alone, carrying a lie he never should’ve had to hold.
Beside me, the guard asked, “Want me to save that clip?”
“Yes.”
The charge nurse was waiting near the elevators. “You saw?”
I nodded. “He lied.”
“We’ll notify the social worker.”