The first page shook slightly in my hand, though I could not tell whether that came from me or from the way my mother had folded it so many times.
“Daniel,” she said, looking directly at me, “I am not losing my mind.”
Lila stood several feet behind me in the hallway.
For the first time since I had arrived home, she had no prepared expression.
I looked down at the pages.
Dates filled the margins.
Short notes.
Times.
Meals.
Doors locked and unlocked.
Things Lila had said.
People who had visited.
Days when Margaret had been allowed downstairs and days when she had not.
My mother had created a record.
Not because she expected anyone to believe her immediately.
Because she understood that Lila had already begun making sure they wouldn’t.
“Mom,” I said quietly, “start from the beginning.”
Lila stepped closer.
“Daniel, you cannot encourage this.
Paranoia is part of what’s been happening.”
I turned around.
“You told Mrs.
Carter Mom couldn’t be left alone.”
“She can’t.”
“So you locked her upstairs while you stood outside talking to a neighbor?”
Lila opened her mouth, then stopped.
My mother answered instead.
“She locks me in whenever someone comes over.”
“That is not true.”
Margaret pointed toward the pages in my hand.
“I wrote down every time.”
Lila laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
“She writes things constantly now, Daniel.
Lists.
Accusations.
You don’t understand how exhausting this has been.”
I did not argue with her.
I stepped fully into the room and looked around.
The mattress was on the floor.
The curtains were partly closed.
A plastic cup sat near the wall.
There was no lamp within reach, no phone, and no normal bedroom furniture except a narrow dresser pushed against the far side of the room.
The outside lock mattered more than anything Lila could say.
I took out my phone and photographed it.
Then I photographed the room.
Lila’s voice sharpened.
“What are you doing?”
“Documenting what I came home to.”
Her face changed again.
“You’re making this look worse than it is.”
I glanced at the brass key in my palm.
“You hid the key under the tray in your jewelry box.”
“It was hidden because Margaret steals keys.”
My mother gave a tired laugh.
“Yesterday she said I couldn’t remember what keys were for.”
Lila looked at her.
