Chương 6
“I supported the partnership.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“It was my recommendation. You approved it.”
The coffee tasted metallic.
Martin had given her the opportunity to blame him, and for one shameful second, she wanted to take it.
“I did,” she said.
“Then attend the vote. We will address Haven House when there are facts.”
“We have facts.”
“We have a copied form and an abandoned flight.”
“Two abandoned children.”
“Do not turn them into an argument.”
The words hit their target.
Amelia had spent years watching charities convert suffering into photographs, names into campaigns, private grief into donor urgency. She despised it. Yet she had already begun using Mason and Avery to measure her own decency.
“I’ll be on the call,” she said.
The board approved the refinancing by one vote.
Amelia spent the next two hours defending the Seattle acquisition while a small photograph of Rabbit remained open in the corner of her laptop. Theo had taken it after completing the repair so he could document the condition before returning it.
At eleven thirty, he entered her office.
“The phone number in the rabbit belonged to June Bell,” he said. “Maternal grandmother. Pueblo address. Officer Park contacted her this morning.”
Amelia closed the board presentation.
“The mother?”
“Rachel Bell. Thirty-two. The children’s father is Calvin Shaw.”
“Where is Rachel?”
“Unknown.”
“And Shaw?”
“Seattle.”
The destination settled between them.
“Was he expecting the children?”
“Police are determining that.”
“Olivia?”
“Olivia Mercer is Rachel’s half sister. She was released pending further investigation.”
Amelia stood so quickly that the chair rolled backward.
“Released?”
“She provided caregiver documents that appear valid. No one was injured. She claims she believed another relative would collect the children at the gate.”
“She walked onto a plane.”
“She says she panicked after receiving a threatening message from Calvin Shaw.”
“She told the children to call her Mom.”
“She says Rachel instructed her to conceal their identities for safety.”
“Do you believe that?”
“I believe Officer Park told me not to discuss an active investigation with you.”
Amelia stared at him.
“You called her.”
“I delivered Rabbit. She said enough to make clear that we should stay out of it.”
“Did Dana take Rabbit to Mason?”
“Yes.”
The answer softened something in Amelia before she could stop it.
Theo noticed.
“The Ortiz family reports that the children slept in the same room,” he said. “Mason woke twice. Avery ate toast this morning. That is all Dana was permitted to share.”
“Thank you.”
He placed a business card on the desk.
On the back, someone had written a phone number.
“Olivia called the foundation’s public office,” he said. “She asked for you. She said the police had her phone and that Calvin Shaw would come for the children before anyone understood why Rachel disappeared.”
“Did she leave a message?”
“That was the message.”
“Where is she?”
“I did not ask.”
Amelia picked up the card.
“You cannot call her.”
“She called me.”
“She called a public number because she wants your name attached to her defense.”
“Or because our organization exposed Rachel’s records.”
“We do not know that.”
“The audit—”
“Shows risk. Not causation.”
Amelia placed the card down.
Theo remained by the desk.
“What?” she asked.
“You are angry because the system released someone you have decided is guilty.”
“She abandoned five-year-olds.”
“Yes.”
“And you think I should be neutral?”
“I think you should be accurate.”
Amelia’s phone rang.
Dana Ruiz’s number appeared on the screen.
Dana asked her to come to the department office that afternoon. The children had requested to see her, and the assigned investigator believed a brief, supervised visit might help clarify what happened at the airport.
Amelia arrived wearing a navy suit and flat black shoes. The ice-blue gown had gone to the cleaner, though she could not imagine wearing it again.
The family room contained a dollhouse, plastic bins of toys, and a mural of mountains painted by someone who had never learned perspective. Mason sat at a small table building a tower from wooden blocks. Rabbit occupied the chair beside him.
Avery stood when Amelia entered.
“You came.”
“I said I might.”
“That means yes?”
“Today it did.”
Avery hugged her before Amelia could prepare.
The child’s arms barely reached around her waist. Amelia held herself rigid for a moment, then placed one hand between Avery’s shoulders.
Mason watched.
“You fixed him wrong,” he said.
Theo, standing near the door, looked offended.
“The blue thread goes on top.”
“I was not informed there was an aesthetic requirement.”
Mason turned Rabbit’s ear inside out to show the original blue stitches.
Theo crouched beside the table. “I apologize. May I correct it?”
Mason considered the matter.
“Tomorrow.”
“That is a strict deadline.”
“Planes don’t wait.”
Theo glanced at Amelia.
Mason smiled.
Dana allowed the visit to continue for thirty minutes. The twins spoke about the Ortiz house. The old dog’s name was Pickles. It snored. Mr. Ortiz made eggs that were “wet,” a culinary flaw Mason considered serious. Avery had slept in socks because the bedroom floor felt cold.
They did not ask about Olivia.
With ten minutes remaining, Mason began taking blocks from his tower and arranging them in a line.
“Did your mother put the tag inside Rabbit?” Amelia asked.
Dana had approved the question in advance.
Mason shook his head. “Grandma.”
“Do you remember Grandma?”
“She has purple glasses.”
Avery sat on the carpet, brushing a doll’s hair with a plastic fork.
“Mom called her,” she said.
“When?”
“At the brown house.”
Dana leaned forward slightly.
“What brown house?”
“The one with the stairs.”
Mason stopped arranging blocks.
“Olivia said not to say.”
“Olivia isn’t here,” Dana said.
“She knows things.”
“What things?”
Mason pushed one block against another until both toppled.
“She knows where Mommy sleeps.”
Avery began brushing faster.
Amelia kept her voice even. “Do you know where your mother sleeps?”
“In a room with numbers.”
“A hotel?”
“No.”
“A hospital?”
May you like
Avery looked up.
“There’s a lady at a desk,” she said. “And you have to push a button.”
