“I don’t understand,” I said, trying to wrap my mind around everything. “Emily, sweetie, can you tell us what happened? Maybe it wasn’t Uncle Nathan. Maybe it was something else?”

Emily looked up at me, her lip trembling. “It crawled on my back, Mommy. It was big… and it pinched me.”The image of a large spider hiding in her backpack, perhaps unknowingly brought home from a trip or lurking in a corner, made my skin crawl. I regretted having doubted Nathan, even for a second. He had always been there for Emily, a steadfast presence in our lives.

“Ms. Taylor,” Officer Daniels said, his tone softening. “It seems likely that Emily encountered this spider, and it startled her. The stain was a defensive secretion. It probably bit her or pinched her, as she said.”