Chương 4
“How?”
“He punched it.”
The refrigerator hummed into the silence.
“Did he ever hit your mother?”
Sophie’s eyes went toward the hallway.
“I don’t know.”
Evelyn waited.
“He grabbed her.”
“Did he ever hurt you?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly enough that Evelyn believed it.
“Did he scare you?”
Sophie gave her a look that made the question seem foolish.
Footsteps approached.
Two police officers entered with Martin, rain shining on their jackets.
The older officer introduced herself as Sergeant Lena Ortiz, and the younger man beside her as Officer Bell.
Ortiz looked first at Sophie, not Evelyn.
“That’s quite a pair of slippers.”
“They’re not mine.”
“I was hoping not.”
Sophie almost smiled.
Ortiz crouched several feet away rather than approaching.
“My name is Lena, and I’m here because some people are worried about you.”
“My grandma knows where I am.”
Evelyn felt the word before she had time to prepare for it.
Grandma.
Not Evelyn Mercer.
Not the woman from the address.
Something warmer and infinitely more dangerous.
Ortiz glanced at Evelyn.
“Mrs. Mercer says she’s your grandmother?”
“She is.”
“How do you know?”
“Because my mom told me.”
“Okay.”
Ortiz did not challenge her.
“Do you know the man outside?”
Sophie’s shoulders rose.
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
“Daniel.”
“Is Daniel your dad?”
“No.”
The answer was immediate this time.
Officer Bell looked at Ortiz.
Evelyn said nothing.
Ortiz kept her attention on Sophie.
“What do you call your dad?”
“I don’t.”
“Is he around?”
Sophie shook her head.
“Do you know his name?”
Another shake.
“Daniel says he adopted you.”
“He lies.”
Ortiz’s expression remained neutral.
“That’s something we can check.”
“I don’t want to go with him.”
“I heard you.”
“You’re going to make me.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Adults say ‘I heard you’ when they’re going to do something anyway.”
Officer Bell looked down, possibly hiding a smile.
Ortiz sighed.
“You know, that’s annoyingly fair.”
Sophie studied her.
“Here’s what I can promise,” Ortiz said.
“Nobody is taking you anywhere in the next five minutes.”
“Only five?”
“It’s the promise I can keep right now.”
Evelyn respected her instantly, which was inconvenient.
Ortiz stood and faced Evelyn.
“Can we talk privately?”
“No.”
“Mrs. Mercer.”
“She has spent the evening being discussed by adults who keep sending her out of rooms.”
Sophie looked surprised.
“So unless you need to discuss something inappropriate for a child to hear, we speak here.”
Ortiz considered that.
“All right.”
She removed a phone from her pocket.
“Mr. Cross showed us a copy of a temporary guardianship order.”
Evelyn’s stomach dropped.
“What kind of guardianship?”
“It appears to authorize him to make decisions concerning Sophie if her mother is unavailable.”
“Appears?”
“I haven’t verified it.”
“When was it issued?”
“Three months ago.”
Sophie shook her head.
“No.”
Ortiz looked at her.
“What part is wrong?”
“Mom wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t what?”
“Let Daniel have me.”
Ortiz nodded once.
“I’m not saying she did.”
Evelyn reached for her own phone.
“I’m calling counsel.”
“Please do.”
Officer Bell’s radio crackled.
A dispatcher’s voice came through too quickly for Evelyn to catch everything.
Bell stepped into the hallway.
Ortiz continued.
“We also need to locate Caroline.”
“I can give you her address.”
“Mr. Cross already did.”
Sophie’s head snapped up.
“He went there?”
Ortiz hesitated.
“He says he did.”
“What did he say he found?”
“The apartment was empty.”
Sophie’s breathing changed.
Evelyn noticed because the child pressed one hand against her chest.
“Your inhaler?”
Sophie nodded.
Evelyn retrieved it from the grocery bag.
Sophie took one puff, waited, then another, exactly as if she had done this alone many times.
Ortiz watched without interrupting.
Evelyn dialed her attorney.
It went to voicemail.
She called his private number.
Voicemail again.
At seven-thirty on a Friday evening, apparently even expensive lawyers possessed lives.
She tried his partner.
No answer.
“Damn it.”
Sophie looked at her.
“Mom says that a lot too.”
“I’m beginning to see where she got all her best qualities.”
This time Sophie did smile.
Officer Bell returned.
His expression had changed.
“Sergeant.”
Ortiz stepped toward him.
He spoke quietly, but the kitchen was too still to hide the words.
“Patrol at Benton Street found blood in the apartment.”
Sophie’s inhaler slipped from her hand.
Evelyn caught it before it hit the floor.
“How much blood?”
Ortiz’s look warned Bell, but the question had already been asked.
“Unknown.”
“Caroline?”
“No one there.”
“Then blood proves nothing.”
Evelyn heard how cold she sounded.
Sophie heard it too.
The child stared at her.
Evelyn crouched.
“That doesn’t mean it’s your mother’s.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
“Then don’t say it like you do.”
Evelyn closed her mouth.
Caroline had said almost those exact words during their last argument.
Don’t turn guesses into facts just because you say them in that voice.
The memory arrived with such precision that Evelyn could see Caroline standing beside the library fireplace, furious and pale, one hand wrapped around the strap of her purse.
Evelyn rose too quickly and steadied herself against the island.
Ortiz noticed.
“Mrs. Mercer?”
“I’m fine.”
Nobody believed her.
Her phone rang.
The number was unfamiliar.
Every person in the kitchen looked at it.
Evelyn answered.
“Hello?”
For several seconds there was only static.
Then a woman breathed her name.
“Mom?”
Caroline sounded far away.
Sophie lunged for the phone.
“Mom!”
“Sophie’s there?”
“Yes.”
Caroline exhaled shakily.
“Thank God.”
“Where are you?”
“Listen to me.”
“Caroline, the police are here.”
“No police.”
“That option expired when blood was found in your apartment.”
Silence.
Evelyn gripped the phone.
“Are you hurt?”
“It isn’t mine.”
Sophie covered her mouth.
Ortiz moved closer, silently asking permission to listen.
Evelyn put the call on speaker.
“Whose blood is it?”
Caroline did not answer.
“Caroline.”
“I can’t explain this over the phone.”
“Then tell us where you are.”
“No.”
“Your daughter took two buses alone in a storm because you sent her to a woman she has never met.”
May you like
“I know.”
“Do you?”
