Chapter 11 - MILO'S DRAWING
The strongest evidence came from Milo himself.
Not through an interrogation.
Through a drawing.
His therapist asked him to draw the safest place he could imagine.
Milo drew Savannah's apartment.
A blue couch.
A lamp.
A bowl of cereal.
Savannah standing beside him.
Then the therapist asked him to draw his old home.
Milo drew the kitchen.
Derek was enormous.
Janice was standing in the doorway.
And beneath the table Milo drew a small red rectangle.
The therapist asked:
“What is that?”
Milo whispered:
“The phone.”
“Why is the phone important?”
“Because I recorded him.”
Savannah nearly stopped breathing.
Milo explained.
Months earlier, his school had given students cheap tablets.
He had learned how to record audio.
One evening Derek hit him after he spilled milk.
The next time Derek became angry, Milo hid Savannah's old phone beneath the dining table and pressed record.
“Where is it now?” Savannah asked.
Milo looked frightened.
“In my dinosaur box.”
Back at Janice's house, police found the phone exactly where Milo described.
Its screen was cracked.
But it still worked.
There were seven recordings.
Derek shouting.
Derek threatening him.
Janice telling Derek to calm down.
Then Janice saying something that changed the entire case.
“If Savannah sees another bruise, she'll start asking questions.”
Derek replied:
“Then keep the kid away from her.”
Another recording:
MILO: “I'm telling Savannah.”
DEREK: “You tell your sister and I'll make sure you never see her again.”
Then Janice:
“Derek, stop scaring him.”
But she did not tell Milo Derek was lying.
She did not promise he was safe.
She did not stop the abuse.
She managed it.
Savannah listened until she couldn't anymore.
Milo had been eight years old.
May you like
And somehow he had understood what none of the adults in that house were willing to say.
He needed evidence.
