Mia describes the shock of a scheduled CPS visit proceeding amid new leads in Adam’s disappearance. Detective Janus insists on interviewing Eugene alone; Hannah refuses, asserting parental presence. Mia and John retreat inside and covertly watch the porch via a nanny cam their father installed.

The CPS consultant introduces herself as a speech pathologist specializing in AAC with letterboards/keyboards. Seeing Hannah blanch, Mia anticipates failure and recalls the family’s fraught history with assisted writing that nearly broke her parents apart.

Mia recounts That Summer: after years of anxiety and maternal guilt—amplified by insinuations that Angelman’s error is “maternal”—Hannah embraced physically supported writing (PSW) with a trainee, TFT. Early sessions calmed Eugene, and a striking moment (“my throat hurts”) preceded a strep diagnosis, igniting Hannah’s hope and lifting the household mood.

During a rare at-home session, Adam asked to pose questions. He had secretly prepared a verification: he’d introduced a new red ball and a different bedtime book. When asked simple questions, Eugene/TFT produced plausible but incorrect answers. Adam then revealed a paper listing the true answers, proving facilitator influence.

TFT reacted defiantly; Hannah expelled her. Afterward, anger shifted to Adam for orchestrating a public “gotcha” that maximized Hannah’s fall from hope. Mia confronted Adam for the cruelty of the reveal. The fallout nearly ended the marriage and precipitated a role reversal: Hannah returned to full-time work while Adam stayed home.

Back in the present, the arrival of an AAC-focused CPS consultant explains Hannah’s resistance and the family’s skepticism, raising stakes for extracting any information from Eugene about Adam’s disappearance.