He looked up from the screen, his eyes locking onto Ava.

“Ava,” Daniel said, his voice dropping an octave.

“What?” she snapped, though her voice trembled.

“You said she pushed you.”

“She did! Dad, she’s lying, she edited that or something—”

“This is a live feed from our own system, Ava,” Daniel said, his voice rising in panic.

He held the screen out toward her, his hand shaking.

“Look at it. You didn’t even touch her. She wasn’t within five feet of you.”

Ava looked at the screen, her eyes widening as the clip looped back to the beginning.

The smugness faded from her face, replaced by a sudden, pale terror.

“Dad, I… I tripped, and I thought she pushed me, I swear—”

“You lied to me,” Daniel said, his voice cracking.

He looked back at the glass door, meeting my eyes.

I stood perfectly still in the warm kitchen.

Behind me, the grandfather clock in the hallway ticked with slow, rhythmic precision.

Daniel tapped his screen frantically, trying to access the main menu of the smart-home app to delete the clip.