The master bedroom of the Hawthorne Estate was unusually quiet.
Heavy curtains blocked most of the afternoon sunlight, leaving the room dim except for the warm glow of a bedside lamp.
Megan lay silently beneath a blue blanket.
Her face was pale.
She avoided looking at anyone standing near the bed.
Jake, her husband, had rushed home after hearing she had been injured.
Standing quietly in the doorway was his mother, Evelyn.
She wore a red dress and tightly gripped her handbag.
Her expression was tense.
As Jake approached the bed, Megan whispered through tears.
"Jake... please don't."
Her voice trembled with fear.
Jake hesitated.
He looked from Megan to his mother.
Something felt terribly wrong.
Slowly, he pulled back the blanket.
His breath caught.
Across Megan's upper thigh were four deep, parallel wounds that had been carefully bandaged but were still stained with fresh blood.
Jake stood frozen.
Those injuries clearly weren't consistent with a simple household accident.
Megan immediately turned her face into the pillow, unable to hold back her tears.
The room became painfully silent.
Jake slowly looked back at his wife.
His voice shook with disbelief.
"Megan...
Who did this?"
His question hung heavily in the air.
Before Megan could answer, Evelyn stepped forward.
Her explanation came quickly.
Too quickly.