I didn't recognize the coat.
The second showed a navy dress with white trim.
The third showed my granddaughter in the green coat covered with little yellow stars.
I froze.
"Stop."
Daniel looked up.
"What?"
"Go back."
He returned to the photograph.
The green coat filled the screen.
I remembered Lily's drawing.
I remembered the way her pencil had stopped moving when she said she owned something similar.
"That's the coat," I whispered.
Daniel frowned.
"What coat?"
"She drew it yesterday."
He looked confused.
I swallowed.
"She drew a girl wearing a green coat with little yellow stars. When I asked whether she had one, she looked toward the kitchen and said she'd forgotten."
Daniel stared at me.
I could see the moment his confusion became genuine alarm.
"Margaret, I bought that coat myself."
My fingers tightened around the edge of the table.
"When?"
"About three weeks ago."
"Have you seen her wearing it?"
He hesitated.
"In pictures."
I looked at him.
"In person?"
Daniel opened his mouth.
Then he stopped.
He looked toward his phone.
"I work early most mornings. Vanessa gets Lily ready for school."
I waited.
He continued slowly.
"I see her after dinner, and by then she's usually changed into comfortable clothes."
My heart sank.
Daniel looked at the screen again.
"That doesn't mean anything."
"No," I said gently. "It doesn't prove anything by itself."
He rubbed his forehead.
Then he asked, "What exactly has Vanessa told you?"
I took a breath.
And for the next twenty minutes, I told him everything.
The shoes.
The sweater.
The repeated blue dress.
The comments about his finances.
The suggestion that he was too distracted to notice what Lily needed.
The request that I not speak to him directly.
Daniel listened without interrupting.
When I finished, he stared at the desk.
Then he said something I will never forget.
"She's been telling me the opposite."
I felt cold.
"What?"
Daniel looked up.
"Vanessa says Claire's family thinks I'm trying to erase her."
I stared.
He continued.
"She says you get upset whenever Lily wears new clothes because you think they were chosen by Vanessa."
I shook my head.
"No."
"She says you prefer Lily to wear Claire's old favorites when you visit."
I felt my stomach drop.
"Daniel, I've never said that."
He looked at me.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.