Chương 10
“I’d like to speak with Noah now.”
Claire immediately stood.
“Can I stay?”
“For part of it.”
“I’m not leaving him alone.”
Dana’s expression remained steady.
“I understand your concern, but there may be portions where I need to speak with him without a parent present.”
Claire stiffened.
Michael saw the argument coming.
He also saw Noah watching.
“Claire.”
She turned.
He kept his voice low.
“Ask Noah.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“Ask him what he wants.”
Dana looked at both of them but said nothing.
Claire turned toward her son.
“Do you want me in there?”
Noah hesitated.
The hesitation hurt Claire visibly.
“You can tell me.”
“I want you at first.”
“Okay.”
“And then maybe outside.”
Claire swallowed.
“Okay.”
Noah stood.
Dana led them toward a consultation room.
Michael stayed behind.
He expected Claire to glance back.
She did not.
His phone buzzed again.
This time it was his brother, Daniel.
Michael stared at the name before answering.
“Hey.”
“Why are there police cars at your house?”
Michael closed his eyes.
Of course.
Daniel lived twenty minutes away but had friends in Michael’s neighborhood.
Information traveled faster than judgment.
“It’s complicated.”
“That phrase has never meant anything good.”
Michael rubbed his forehead.
“Vanessa was arrested.”
Silence.
“For what?”
Michael looked toward the treatment room.
“Child abuse.”
Daniel did not speak.
Michael heard traffic through the phone.
Then a turn signal clicking.
“Whose child?”
Michael nearly laughed at the absurdity of the question.
“Mine.”
Another silence.
“What did she do?”
“I don’t want to explain it over the phone.”
“Are Noah and Ella okay?”
“They’re at the hospital.”
“Jesus.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“Do you need me?”
Michael almost said no.
It was his reflex.
No was cleaner.
No meant nobody saw the mess.
“Maybe tomorrow.”
“You sure?”
“No.”
Daniel waited.
“I don’t know what I need.”
“That sounds more accurate.”
Michael leaned against the wall.
“Can you do something for me?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t tell Mom yet.”
Daniel was quiet.
“She’ll find out.”
“I know.”
“She’ll be furious if she hears from somebody else.”
“I know.”
“You want me to lie?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Just don’t call her tonight.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Fine.”
“And don’t post anything.”
“Do I look sixteen?”
“You posted about the plumbing company last month.”
“They flooded my basement.”
“Daniel.”
“I won’t post.”
“Thanks.”
“Michael.”
“Yeah?”
“Whatever happened, don’t protect Vanessa because you’re embarrassed.”
Michael closed his eyes.
“That’s specific.”
“You’ve done that before.”
“When?”
“Not with this.”
Daniel paused.
“With everything.”
Michael straightened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means when something makes you look stupid, you’d rather call it complicated than admit somebody fooled you.”
The words landed cleanly.
Michael looked down the corridor.
“I have to go.”
“Sure.”
“Daniel.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re not wrong.”
His brother did not answer immediately.
Then he said, “That’s new.”
Michael ended the call.
He sat alone for another ten minutes.
The hospital clock moved from 11:18 to 11:28 with insulting calm.
A woman carrying a bouquet of grocery-store flowers walked past him, followed by a teenage boy holding a balloon that said GET WELL SOON.
Michael found himself staring at the balloon until it disappeared around the corner.
When Claire returned, she was alone.
“Where’s Noah?”
“Still with Dana.”
She sat beside Michael this time rather than two chairs away.
Neither of them acknowledged it.
“How did it go?”
“She asked about school.”
“That seems normal.”
“She asked about Vanessa.”
Michael waited.
Claire rubbed her palms together.
“He told her about the arm.”
Michael looked at her.
“He said it happened twice.”
“Twice?”
“He told us once.”
“He minimized it.”
Claire nodded.
“What happened the other time?”
“She grabbed him by the back of the neck.”
Michael went still.
“When?”
“After he talked back.”
“What did he say?”
Claire looked at him.
“Does it matter?”
“No.”
“Then why did you ask?”
Michael stared at his hands.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re still trying to find the version that makes sense.”
He looked at her.
Claire’s eyes were wet now, but she seemed unaware of it.
“There is no version where an adult gets to put their hand on him like that.”
“I know.”
She flinched at the phrase.
This time he did not correct himself.
Claire looked away.
“He said she’d apologize afterward.”
Michael’s chest tightened.
“Apologize how?”
“Buy him something.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“Snacks.”
Claire wiped beneath one eye with the heel of her hand.
“Video game credits once.”
Michael stared at her.
“She bought him things after?”
“Apparently.”
He thought of Noah suddenly asking for digital gift cards over the past year.
Michael had teased him about becoming expensive.
Noah had gone quiet.
“He said she’d tell him they both got too emotional.”
Michael’s jaw tightened.
“He’s nine.”
“I’m aware.”
Michael stood and walked to the window.
He needed distance from his own body.
Below, a delivery driver wheeled a cart toward a side entrance.
Nothing outside understood that the world had changed.
Claire remained seated.
“What did Ella say?”
Michael turned.
“About tonight?”
“About before.”
He hesitated.
“She said Vanessa told her she made people look bad.”
Claire’s face went blank.
“What else?”
“I didn’t push.”
“Good.”
Michael looked at her.
It was the first approval she had given him all night.
It felt undeserved.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“I need to tell you something.”
Her expression tightened immediately.
“What now?”
“About the necklace.”
She waited.
“I think Vanessa may have been planning more than tonight.”
Claire stared at him.
“Why?”
“The camera.”
“That doesn’t prove planning.”
“No.”
“The necklace doesn’t either.”
“She hid it under Ella’s pillow.”
“I know.”
“But she also recorded herself doing it.”
Claire frowned.
Michael continued.
“That doesn’t make sense unless she thought the recording served some other purpose, or she forgot the camera was on.”
“She could have forgotten.”
“Maybe.”
Claire studied him.
“What are you thinking?”
“That the footage in Ella’s room might not have been intended to exist.”
“And?”
“And the edited footage of you was.”
May you like
Claire’s face changed slowly.
Michael saw the same line forming for both of them.
