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Chapter 2

Autor: Perfect Timing
After I finally calmed down, Captain Walsh wrote a few notes in his notebook, then looked up at me.

“Keep going.”

I took a sip of warm water and forced myself to remember that terrifying morning.

“At the time, I rushed over and grabbed my stepmother from behind.”

“What time?”

“What?”

Captain Walsh’s eyes were sharp. “What time did you get home?”

“Eight-thirty.”

Captain Walsh lowered his head and wrote down a few more lines before telling me to continue.

“I pulled my brother away from her.

“I don’t know. I don’t know how we fell.”

I curled into myself and gripped my hair with both hands as countless fragments flashed through my mind.

Serena’s terrifying face.

My baby brother’s soft little babbles.

And then, the moment everything went wrong.

The sound exploded in my head again.

“Dad said Aunt Serena hadn’t been managing well after giving birth. He said she had postpartum depression.

“I was already being so careful. I didn’t let my brother make noise and bother her.”

“If I had known, I wouldn’t have gone out to buy breakfast.

“If only I had come home earlier.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks and slipped into the corners of my mouth, salty and bitter.

It felt like my chest was stuffed with cotton.

I could barely breathe.

“I’m the one who caused Noah’s death.”

“He was still so little. He used to hold my finger and laugh.”

Tears seeped through my fingers.

“My teacher said police officers catch bad people. So am I the bad person?”

Mrs. Harper hugged me tightly, her heart aching for me.

The younger officer, Officer Lane, looked like he couldn’t bear it anymore. His voice hesitated.

“Captain Walsh, she’s just a child.”

But Captain Walsh remained calm.

“Mia, you said you left home at what time?”

I froze for a second as the timeline flashed through my mind.

“Seven.”

“What did you do before you left?”

“Noah woke up. I moved him and his bassinet into my room.”

“How long did you wait in line?”

“Half an hour.”

“What time did you get home?”

“Eight-thirty.”

“You remember the time very clearly.”

People’s memories are not always accurate.

Actually, I shouldn’t have remembered everything that precisely.

After all, I was only nine.

Captain Walsh’s gaze was like a hawk spotting a rabbit.

Sharp.

Unforgiving.

His eyes fell on my empty wrist.

“You don’t have a watch or any electronic device to check the time.”

I looked at him seriously.

“Aunt Serena said time is precious.”

“She uses minute-by-minute training with me. I can control exactly how long I spend on every task each day, so I’m very sensitive to time.”

“Minute-by-minute training?”

I nodded and thought back.

“Yes. Like eating. I can finish a meal in ten minutes. A shower takes eight minutes. Going to the bathroom takes three.”

After Captain Walsh and the others left, I stayed in the hospital for three more days.

My left hand was still wrapped in gauze.

That was the arm Noah had slipped from.

Luckily, the bone wasn’t fractured.

The day I was discharged was also the day of Noah’s funeral.

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