Juanita: In the months since the home invasion, your daughter, Beatrix, has become an internet sensation. That still shot from the nanny cam footage of her sneaking out of the playroom made the cover of the New York Times, and there are Facebook groups and fan pages and hundreds of GIFs and memes dedicated to her bravery and daring. There are Hollywood producers competing to tell her story, even talk of putting her face on a cereal box. That must feel...
Cam: Strange. Surreal. Bizarre. All of the above.
Juanita: I’d imagine it’s also a big invasion of privacy.
Cam: I’ll say. You people are pretty relentless.
Juanita: I agree the media can be tenacious, but that’s because this story is one that holds widespread appeal. A celebrity chef, a brave little girl who also happens to be a violin virtuoso, a masked and armed man who targeted you and your family, a shooting captured on camera—
Cam: A villain who’s only out for money.
Juanita: Are we talking about him or you?
Cam: [shrugs] Up to your viewers to decide, though pretty sure I know which side of the equation they’ll fall on.
Juanita: That moment when Beatrix picked up the gun, you were watching on your cell phone. You saw your daughter pick up a deadly weapon, and there was literally nothing you could do to stop it. I can’t imagine what that must have been like.
Cam: [long pause] My heart, it just...stopped. Like, no pulse, no blood pumping at all. My muscles locked up, and it’s a miracle I didn’t hit a tree because I couldn’t tear my eyes off the phone. I didn’t look at the road. All I could see was my baby on that little screen, holding a gun, waving it around. And I was completely helpless to stop her.
Juanita: Because you were still miles away. Stuck in traffic.
Cam: [wipes eyes] Nothing could have prepared me for that kind of terror. Nothing.
Juanita: So what did you do?
Cam: I drove like hell. I prayed to a God I’ve spent most of my life either ignoring or mocking, a God I have zero business asking any favors. I swore that if He or She would just spare my family, just... [shakes head]
Juanita: Do you need to take a break?
Cam: No. I’m all right.
Juanita: Take all the time you need.
Cam: I swore if God would spare them, keep them alive and in one piece, then I would never ask for anything ever again. And all those things I used to care about, the restaurants and the real estate and the houses and cars, I’d give it all up. Because here’s what happens when your family’s lives are at stake. There’s this...white-light moment of clarity, a lightning-bolt realization that you’re an idiot and all that shit you’ve spent so much time and effort accumulating is worthless. The banks can have everything. I don’t want any of those things anymore. Without Jade and the Bees, it’s worthless. I’m worthless.
Juanita: August 6 was your wake-up call?
Cam: [nods] I’m just sorry it happened too late.