The officer placed a printed copy in front of me.
It described my daughter as “difficult,” “defiant,” and “in need of harsher discipline.” It described incidents that had never happened the way the document claimed.
There was even a section suggesting that I had been “too soft” with her.
I stared at the page.
Then I remembered all the times my husband had complained that I was making our daughter “spoiled.”
All the times he had told me she needed to learn obedience.
All the times his mother had agreed.
I had thought they were arguments about parenting.
They were building a story.
A story in which my daughter was the problem and they were the adults correcting her.
The detective leaned forward.
“Did your husband ever ask you to sign anything about your daughter’s behavior?”
I told her no.
She asked whether he had ever told me that people would think I was an inadequate mother if I disagreed with his discipline.
