Chương 4
“About twenty minutes ago. Told Marlene he’s taking personal leave.”
Nathan laughed once.
“Personal leave.”
“Yeah.”
“What else?”
“He told her you’re dealing with a family matter and nobody should talk to reporters if anybody calls.”
Nathan stared at the refrigerator door.
“Reporters?”
“Apparently somebody at the funeral posted something.”
Of course they had.
Nathan closed his eyes.
“What did they post?”
“I don’t know. Marlene said there’s a video.”
Nathan’s stomach turned.
“Of what?”
“The dog.”
He ended the call and opened his phone.
He did not have to search far.
A local Facebook account had uploaded fourteen seconds from the chapel. It began after Bruno’s first growl and ended with Nathan holding the bracelet.
The caption read:
DOG EXPOSES MAN AT GIRL’S FUNERAL?
Nathan watched it once.
Then again.
The second time he noticed Claire in the background.
Anyone who knew what to look for would see her face when Ryan’s name was mentioned.
Comments multiplied beneath the video.
People invented facts within minutes.
Ryan was Sophie’s doctor.
Ryan was Claire’s brother.
Ryan was a child predator.
Nathan had trained Bruno to attack.
The bracelet contained DNA.
The coffin was empty.
Nathan turned off the phone.
Modern grief, apparently, came with a comment section.
He poured a glass of water and left it untouched.
At six thirty, Claire’s car pulled into the driveway.
Nathan watched through the kitchen window as she sat behind the steering wheel for nearly two minutes.
When she came inside, she had changed out of the funeral dress. She wore gray sweatpants, an old college sweatshirt, and no earrings.
She stopped when she saw him.
“I can go to my sister’s.”
Nathan looked at Bruno.
The dog had lifted his head but did not move.
“Did Sophie see you together?”
Claire’s face changed.
That was answer enough.
Nathan gripped the counter.
“What did she see?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Try.”
Claire set her purse down.
“Ryan came through the side door around nine.”
“How?”
“He still had the code from when he watched Bruno last Christmas.”
Nathan stared at her.
Claire swallowed.
“I should have changed it.”
“That’s what you’re sorry about?”
“No.”
“Then don’t give me small things.”
She flinched.
Nathan hated that he noticed.
Claire rubbed both hands over her face.
“He came in. We argued. Sophie came downstairs.”
“Why?”
“She heard us.”
“What did she say?”
Claire’s mouth trembled.
“She asked why Uncle Ryan was there.”
Sophie had called him Uncle Ryan until she was nine.
Nathan looked away.
Claire continued.
“She had her tablet. I think she’d been watching videos. Ryan tried to tell her he was dropping something off.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“So she knew.”
“She knew something was wrong.”
“Did she see you touch him?”
Claire stared at the floor.
“Yes.”
Nathan waited.
“She saw him kiss me.”
The kitchen clock clicked softly.
Nathan had never noticed that clock made noise.
“What happened?”
“Sophie got angry.”
“At you?”
“At both of us.”
“Good.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Nathan knew the word was cruel.
He did not take it back.
“She said she was calling you,” Claire said.
“Did she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“She ran toward the mudroom. Bruno followed. Ryan followed her.”
Nathan’s breathing changed.
“Why?”
“He wanted the tablet.”
Nathan went completely still.
Claire spoke faster now.
“He said she shouldn’t call you while she was upset, that we should explain first.”
“So he chased my eleven-year-old daughter for a tablet.”
“I told him to stop.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you stop him?”
Claire looked at him.
“No.”
Nathan turned away.
The mudroom was visible from where he stood.
Fourteen feet of hardwood.
A woven runner Sophie used to slide on in socks.
A basket of dog leashes.
A bench with three pairs of shoes beneath it.
Ordinary distance.
Impossible distance.
“Then what?”
“I heard Bruno growl.”
Nathan looked back.
Claire pressed her arms against her body.
“Ryan grabbed his collar. Sophie grabbed Ryan’s arm. Everybody was moving and yelling and I—”
She stopped.
“What?”
“I froze.”
Nathan waited.
“I don’t know who touched who first.”
“Claire.”
“I don’t.”
“Did he push her?”
“I saw his arm go out.”
Nathan felt his jaw tighten.
“And?”
“She fell backward.”
Silence.
“She hit the door.”
Nathan looked toward the dent in the drywall.
Claire nodded.
“The basement door opened.”
Nathan’s legs went weak.
He sat at the kitchen table.
Claire remained standing.
“Why did you tell police she slipped?”
Claire’s face crumpled.
“Ryan said nobody would believe it was an accident if we told them we were arguing.”
Nathan looked at her.
“So you chose him.”
“No.”
“You chose yourself?”
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Nathan nodded.
“That I believe.”
Claire sat across from him.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Bruno’s nails clicked softly as he entered the kitchen and lay between them.
“He didn’t leave immediately,” Claire said.
Nathan looked up.
“What?”
“He came downstairs with me.”
Nathan’s stomach tightened.
“Sophie was breathing.”
Nathan stood so fast the chair fell backward.
Claire recoiled.
“She was alive?”
“Yes.”
“You told me you found her unconscious.”
“She was unconscious.”
“But breathing.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Nathan walked to the sink.
He gripped the edge with both hands.
“What did Ryan do?”
“He called 911.”
Nathan turned.
“From his phone?”
“My phone.”
“Why?”
“He said his battery was dead.”
Nathan stared at her.
That sounded like Ryan.
Not because Nathan knew it was true.
Because it sounded like a man already thinking about records.
“What else?”
“He told me to say she fell.”
“Before the ambulance came?”
“Yes.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“And the tablet?”
Claire said nothing.
He opened them.
“Where is Sophie’s tablet?”
“I thought it was upstairs.”
Nathan walked toward the stairs.
“Nathan.”
He kept going.
May you like
Her bedroom had remained mostly untouched.
A pink sweatshirt hung from the desk chair. Three library books sat under the window. One sneaker was on the floor, the other missing. Her bedspread was wrinkled where Bruno had slept the first night after the hospital.
