The Silent Witness Chapter 8

"Jason, what do you mean by 'an act'? What are you talking about?"

The officer looked at me, confused.

I didn't answer right away. I just stared hard at Mr. Reed.

His face was still pale, panic flickering in his eyes, though he was trying to look composed.

I walked slowly over to Lily and reached out to wipe the tears from her face.

My fingertips brushed her skin. She was still trembling.

I touched her cheek gently, and she couldn't hold back anymore. She collapsed into my arms, her whole body shaking with sobs.

"It's okay now. It's over."

I patted her back, my voice soft. "You can tell them everything now."

Lily nodded. She cried in my arms for a while before slowly calming down.

I held her shoulders, helping her turn to face the crowd, and then I spoke.

"The truth is, Lily wasn't coming to see me that night."

"I only found out later what happened to her. There's no way I could have recorded any video."

The crowd erupted again.

Someone immediately asked, "Then what about earlier, when Lily said she saw you at the alley entrance and that you filmed it? Was all of that a lie?"

"Why would you go along with her story? What's really going on here?"

I ignored the questions and kept my eyes fixed on Mr. Reed.

"You all think Mr. Reed is a good father. But what you don't know is that he's been tormenting Lily for years!"

"And Lily isn't even his biological daughter!"

"You're lying!"

Mrs. Reed shrieked, trying to grab my arm. The police held her back.

"Lily is our biological daughter! Stop trying to drive a wedge between us!"

But Mr. Reed didn't immediately deny it.

He was silent for a few seconds. Then he slowly lifted his head, his expression shifting into something wounded and helpless.

"That's right. Lily isn't my biological daughter."

"Her real father was my best friend. He and his wife died in an accident twenty years ago, leaving Lily all alone."

"I felt sorry for her, so I adopted her. What's wrong with that?"

"All these years, I've treated her like my own daughter! I bought her whatever she wanted. When she was sick, I stayed up all night with her! What have I ever done to deserve this? Why would she slander me like this?"

Mrs. Reed chimed in, crying.

"That's right! When Lily was little, she was so frail. She was always catching colds and fevers. David was the one who carried her to the hospital in the middle of the night! He's been better to her than he was to our own son, the one we lost!"

"How can you believe what Jason says over David?"

The crowd, predictably, took the bait. They started pointing at Lily again.

"So that's what happened! Mr. Reed is such a kind man—how could she be so ungrateful?"

"Exactly! Her adoptive father treated her so well, and she's accusing him of this? What a backstabber!"

"I think she really has lost her mind. She can't even tell right from wrong anymore!"

The words cut into Lily like knives. Her body trembled even harder.

But then, taking a deep breath, she screamed at Mr. Reed.

"Do you all really think I don't know by now?"

"Do you think I don't know how my real parents died?"