Chương 7
The older deputy looked around.
“Was anyone physically prevented from leaving?”
Daniel’s brother said, “He locked the doors.”
Eric turned.
“I locked them temporarily.”
“You said nobody leaves until Daniel signs.”
“That was not a threat of violence.”
The deputy looked at him.
“You don’t get to define that for everybody else.”
A nervous laugh came from one of the pews.
It died quickly.
Daniel glanced toward the chapel entrance and saw two more people outside beneath umbrellas.
A chapel employee stood behind them speaking urgently into a phone.
The day had moved beyond his control so completely that even the sight of strangers gathering outside felt ordinary.
The deputy asked for identification.
Eric reached slowly into his jacket.
Thomas did the same.
Vanessa did not move.
The deputy looked at her.
“Ma’am?”
“My purse is in the bridal room.”
“Name?”
“Vanessa Cole.”
Thomas looked at her.
Daniel caught it.
The deputy did too.
“Problem?”
Thomas said, “Her legal name may still be Vanessa Reed.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
The younger deputy glanced toward his partner.
The older man remained expressionless.
“Why may it still be that?”
Thomas held up the marriage record.
“Because she and I are legally married.”
The deputy looked from Thomas to Vanessa.
“This related to why we’re here?”
Daniel answered.
“Yes.”
Vanessa said, “No.”
The deputy sighed through his nose.
“Everybody’s going to get a chance to talk.”
He pointed toward the side of the chapel.
“But not all at once.”
Daniel’s mother approached him.
She had gone pale beneath her makeup.
“Daniel.”
He turned.
She looked first at him, then Mia.
“Come sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
He almost snapped at her.
Then he saw her hands trembling.
He let himself be guided to the front pew.
Mia sat beside him.
His mother sat on Mia’s other side and immediately began fixing the crooked white bow in her hair.
Mia tolerated it in silence.
It was such a normal grandmother movement that Daniel’s throat tightened.
His mother whispered, “Your shoe is wet.”
Mia looked down.
“I ran through a puddle.”
“I can see that.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“I know.”
Daniel stared at the altar.
The ring was still in his fist.
He opened his hand.
A faint red mark crossed his palm where the edge had pressed into his skin.
His mother saw it.
“Give me that.”
He handed her the ring.
She folded it into a tissue from her purse and tucked it away without comment.
Across the chapel, the deputies separated Eric, Vanessa, and Thomas.
The younger deputy took Thomas toward the entrance.
The older one led Eric several pews back.
Vanessa remained where she was.
For a few seconds, nobody approached her.
That seemed to disturb her more than accusation had.
Claire eventually stood.
Vanessa looked at her.
Claire stopped halfway down the pew.
“I don’t know what to do.”
Vanessa gave a humorless smile.
“Join the club.”
Claire’s face tightened.
“That’s not funny.”
“I know.”
Daniel looked away.
His mother leaned toward him.
“Did you know any of this?”
“No.”
“Any of it?”
“No.”
She pressed her lips together.
He felt twelve years old again, waiting for judgment after breaking something.
Instead she said, “Then don’t start inventing reasons you should have.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I signed the power of attorney.”
“That’s different.”
“I didn’t read it.”
“You should have.”
He stared.
His mother shrugged faintly.
“You can be foolish without being responsible for somebody else’s fraud.”
The sentence sat between them.
Daniel did not accept it.
Not yet.
Mia leaned against his arm.
He put an arm around her.
The older deputy finished speaking with Eric and came toward them.
“Mr. Hartwell?”
Daniel stood.
“Mia stays with me.”
The deputy looked at the child.
“For now.”
Daniel nodded.
The man lowered his voice.
“Did Mr. Caldwell threaten to hurt anyone?”
“No.”
“Did he show a weapon?”
“No.”
“Touch anybody?”
“No.”
“Block the doors?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone try to leave?”
Daniel thought.
His brother had stepped into the aisle.
Several guests had moved.
Nobody had reached the doors.
“I don’t know.”
The deputy nodded.
“Was there a reason anyone believed he might become violent?”
Daniel looked toward Eric.
“No.”
Then he reconsidered.
“I didn’t know what he might do.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“I know.”
The deputy glanced toward the papers.
“He says this is a business dispute.”
“It’s more than that.”
“Explain.”
Daniel hated the request.
There was no explanation short enough.
He gave the cleanest version he could.
He told him about the proposed transfer, the forged signature, the power of attorney, and the board action Eric claimed had already been filed.
The deputy listened without pretending to understand corporate mechanics.
When Daniel finished, he said, “That part is probably going to be lawyers, not us.”
“Probably?”
“If there’s forgery, coercion, fraud, something else criminal, that gets looked at.”
Daniel nodded.
“And the marriage?”
The deputy glanced toward Thomas.
“That’s not something I’m deciding in a chapel.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Neither did the deputy.
“Do you feel safe remaining here?”
“No.”
The answer surprised him.
The deputy seemed to appreciate its clarity.
“Then I’d recommend you leave.”
Daniel looked toward Mia.
“That’s what I want.”
The deputy nodded.
“We’ll need statements from everyone directly involved.”
“You can have mine.”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He lowered his voice further.
“Don’t touch those papers.”
Daniel glanced at the pew.
“I wasn’t going to.”
“People always say that.”
The deputy moved away.
Mia looked up.
“Are we going home?”
Daniel opened his mouth.
Home.
The word felt suddenly complicated.
Vanessa had lived there for eleven months.
Her clothes were in the bedroom.
Her laptop was on his desk.
Her shampoo was in the shower.
Her photographs were mixed with his.
He did not know whether she had copied keys, files, passwords, or documents.
He did not even know which rooms still felt like his.
“Not yet.”
“Where?”
May you like
He looked toward his brother.
Mark had been standing near the back with his wife, watching without hovering.
