Chương 5
“That’s why you’re not thinking straight.”
He turned.
“And you are?”
“No.”
Mara’s voice cracked for the first time.
“I’m furious.”
She looked toward the ceiling.
“But I’m not the one who gets to fall apart tonight.”
Daniel sat at the kitchen table.
There were seed catalogs stacked at one end and an unopened electric bill beneath a ceramic rooster.
He stared at the rooster.
“Did you know?”
Mara took too long to answer.
Daniel looked up.
“Did you?”
“I knew Lily didn’t like being alone with Vanessa.”
“How?”
“She asked to come here twice when you traveled.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I thought it was normal.”
“Normal?”
“She’s a kid with a stepmother, Dan.”
Mara set down the bottle.
“I thought they were having trouble adjusting.”
“Rachel died five years ago.”
“I’m aware.”
“Vanessa and I have been married almost two.”
“I’m aware of that too.”
“Then what exactly were they adjusting to?”
Mara’s eyes hardened.
“You want somebody to blame before you have to decide what to do.”
Daniel pushed back from the table.
“Don’t.”
“No, blame me if you need to.”
“I should.”
“Fine.”
She spread her hands.
“Do it tomorrow.”
Footsteps sounded overhead.
Both of them stopped.
Lily appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
“I’m hungry.”
The simplicity of it broke something in Daniel.
He stood too quickly.
“Yeah.”
His voice came out rough.
“Of course you are.”
Mara opened a cabinet.
“I have pasta.”
“I don’t like the curly kind.”
“That’s unfortunate because the curly kind has established a monopoly in this house.”
Lily considered the shelf.
“Do you have butter?”
“I am not a barbarian.”
Lily almost smiled.
Daniel turned toward the sink so she would not see his face.
They ate twenty minutes later.
Lily had buttered pasta and apple slices.
Daniel could barely swallow, but he forced down enough food that she would not watch him instead of eating.
Halfway through dinner, Lily asked whether she had school on Monday.
“Yes,” Daniel said automatically.
Mara looked at him.
He corrected himself.
“We’ll figure Monday out tomorrow.”
“Vanessa picks me up Mondays.”
“Not this Monday.”
Lily pushed an apple slice through a smear of butter on her plate.
“Will she be mad?”
“That isn’t your problem.”
“She says when people get mad because of you, it is your problem.”
Daniel set down his fork.
Mara’s eyes warned him.
He took a drink of water.
“Adults are responsible for what they do when they’re angry.”
Lily seemed to test the idea privately.
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
The number was unfamiliar.
He answered immediately.
“Daniel Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“This is Elena Alvarez from Greenfield Elementary.”
Daniel stood and walked toward the living room.
“Thank you for calling.”
“Is Lily with you?”
“Yes.”
“Is Vanessa there?”
“No.”
Mrs. Alvarez was quiet for a moment.
“Can Lily hear this conversation?”
Daniel looked back.
Lily was watching him from the table.
“No.”
He walked onto the front porch and shut the door.
“All right,” Mrs. Alvarez said.
“I need to be careful about what I discuss by phone, but I also need to ask you something directly.”
“Go ahead.”
“Are you planning to take Lily back to your house tonight?”
“No.”
The answer came without hesitation.
“Good.”
Daniel gripped the porch railing.
“What did she tell you?”
“I can discuss the conversations with you, but there’s something you need to understand first.”
Her voice remained calm.
“Yesterday, based on what Lily disclosed to me, I made a mandated report.”
Daniel’s fingers tightened around the wood.
“A report to who?”
“Child protective services.”
He stared through the screen door at Lily sitting under Mara’s yellow kitchen light.
“What exactly did Lily disclose?”
Mrs. Alvarez paused.
“It wasn’t only what Vanessa had done to her.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“What does that mean?”
“It involved you.”
He turned away from the door.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say about me?”
“I think that conversation needs to happen with the investigator present.”
“No.”
His voice sharpened.
“You just told me somebody reported something involving my daughter and me, so you don’t get to—”
“Mr. Mercer.”
He stopped.
Mrs. Alvarez’s tone had changed.
Not louder.
Firmer.
“The report does not accuse you of hurting Lily.”
Daniel pressed his thumb into the porch rail.
“Then what does it say?”
Before she could answer, headlights swept across Mara’s front windows.
A dark sedan slowed in the street.
Daniel watched it pass.
Then another vehicle turned the corner behind it.
This one stopped at the curb.
A woman stepped out carrying a leather portfolio.
A man emerged from the passenger side.
Neither looked toward the house immediately.
They spoke beside the car for several seconds.
Mrs. Alvarez said his name again.
Daniel barely heard her.
The woman at the curb looked down at a piece of paper, then up at Mara’s house.
“Mr. Mercer, are you still there?”
“Yes.”
“If someone from the department contacts you tonight, cooperate with them.”
The woman started up the walkway.
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
“They’re here.”
Mrs. Alvarez went silent.
“What did Lily say about me?”
Daniel asked.
The woman reached the porch steps.
“She said Vanessa told her that if she ever showed anyone the bruises, you would lose her.”
Daniel looked through the screen door.
Inside, Lily had stopped eating.
She was staring at the woman approaching the house.
Mrs. Alvarez continued speaking, but Daniel caught only the last sentence.
“And Lily believed her.”
The woman climbed the first porch step and showed Daniel an identification card.
“Mr. Mercer?”
Daniel lowered the phone.
“Yes.”
“My name is Caroline Beck.”
She glanced through the screen toward Lily, then back at him.
“I’m with county child protective services.”
The man behind her remained near the walkway.
Caroline closed the identification wallet.
“I need to speak with your daughter tonight, and I need to speak with you separately.”
Daniel glanced at Lily.
Her fork had fallen onto her plate.
May you like
Caroline followed his gaze.
Then she said, quietly enough that only Daniel could hear, “And until those interviews are complete, I need you to understand that I can’t assume your sister’s house is an approved placement for Lily.”
