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Of course she had. Nate had known that, but hearing the words still made his stomach drop.

“All of them?”

“Enough of them. I saw the compilation. Did you see that?”

“I have.”

“Then you know what’s in it.” Her voice didn’t change. Richard got loud, Jonah got sarcastic. Mom just got quiet. “I heard a soul in distress,” she said.

Nate said nothing.

What was there to say? She’d heard what she’d heard.

“The play count on that video has six digits,” Miriam pointed out.

“It blew up,” Nate confirmed.

Beside him, Leo drew back a little.

Miriam continued to talk. “Someone slowed down the clip of the crying and cleaned up the audio so it’s easier to hear. There’s a whole thread about what it could be.”

That part was new to Nate. He looked at the counter instead of at Leo.

“What happened that week?” his mother asked.

“That’s Leo’s business,” Nate said. “It’s not mine to tell.”

Silence on the line.

Then, “All right. That’s fair. Did he know he was being recorded?”

“No. Neither of us knew the camera caught it.”

“And when you found out, you left it up.”

“I did not make that compilation.”

“No. A stranger did. Because you invited a lot of strangers to listen to your house. I’m going to say something now. Let me finish before you defend yourself.”

Nate leaned back against the counter. “Okay.”

“When you walked out on us, I was angry. You know that. We both said things we maybe regret.” There was no hurry in her voice as she let the sentence linger. “I’ve tried to make my peace with your choices. You wanted to build things and be normal and let the dead be somebody else’s problem. That’s not the life I wanted for you, but it’s a fine life.”

“Mom—”

“I’m not finished.” A breath. “What I never imagined, in all the years I’ve spent worrying about you, is that my son would find a soul in pain and put a camera on it.”

The kitchen was very quiet.

“You didn’t walk away from the dead, Nathan. Walking away I could understand. You went back to them with a business model.”

Nate opened his mouth. Closed it again.

“You sat at my table and gave your word, in front of everyone, that you would restore this spirit. I was proud of you that night. I thought you were finally doing the right thing.”

Another pause.

Still, Nate did not know how to fill it.