Chương 4
He told her about entering through the gate.
He told her what Lily said.
He told her Daniel admitted kicking the doll.
He told her Evelyn stepped toward him.
He did not improve his own part.
“She swung at you?”
“Yes.”
“And you struck her first?”
“I believe so.”
“You believe?”
“I saw her hand coming.”
“What kind of strike?”
“Open hand.”
“One time?”
“One.”
“And the male?”
“He rushed me.”
“With a weapon?”
“No.”
“Did he strike you?”
Frank touched the top of his shoulder.
“Yes.”
Ruiz looked.
There was no visible mark through his shirt.
“What did you do?”
“Hit him.”
“How many times?”
“Once.”
“With a closed fist?”
“Yes.”
Ruiz studied him.
“You have any martial arts or combat training?”
Frank almost smiled again.
“Some boxing.”
“How much is some?”
“Enough that I should have known better.”
Her pen paused.
“That answer usually means a lot.”
Frank looked toward the backyard.
He could hear Evelyn speaking sharply to the second officer.
“Enough,” he said.
Ruiz wrote something down.
“Were you trying to knock him unconscious?”
“No.”
“What were you trying to do?”
“Stop him.”
“And did you?”
“Yes.”
The answer sounded ugly in its simplicity.
Ruiz closed the notebook halfway.
“I’m going to be straightforward with you.”
Frank waited.
“Based on what everyone says, we have mutual physical contact involving multiple adults.”
He nodded.
“If anyone wants to make a formal complaint, we document it and proceed from there.”
“Understood.”
“Do you want to make a complaint against Daniel?”
“No.”
“That doesn’t decide whether someone else does.”
“I know.”
Ruiz looked toward the gate.
“You seem unusually familiar with the process.”
Frank met her eyes.
“I’ve had an unusually long life.”
She gave him no reaction.
“That can mean several things.”
“It usually does.”
When they returned to the backyard, Anna had put Lily down near the patio.
The child sat on the bottom step with her doll in her lap while Leonard used bottled water and another cloth to clean the plastic arms.
Lily supervised him.
“You missed here,” she said.
Leonard wiped the doll’s elbow.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And here.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You keep missing.”
Leonard looked at Frank.
Frank said, “She’s a demanding client.”
Lily finally smiled.
Anna did not.
She stood beside the sliding door with her arms folded, staring at her father.
Evelyn was speaking to Ruiz now.
Daniel had refused transport but agreed to let the paramedic check his pupils one more time.
Anna waited until Frank approached.
“Did you come because I called?”
“Yes.”
“I asked you to stop by.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t ask you to bring them.”
She glanced at Marcus and Leonard.
“I was already with them.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Frank looked at her.
Anna lowered her voice.
“When you arrive with two men in suits, Dad, people react before you say anything.”
“They work for me.”
“That’s the problem.”
“No, that’s what they do.”
“You know what it looks like.”
He did.
He had known the instant he walked through the gate.
He had simply not cared.
Now he looked toward Lily on the step.
She had started wiping the doll herself.
“Maybe I should have.”
Anna’s face tightened.
“Maybe?”
Frank breathed through his nose.
“I should have cared.”
She looked away.
That small correction mattered to her.
He knew because she did not leave.
“Mom told me you’ve been making things difficult again,” Anna said.
Frank’s jaw shifted.
“Your mother says a lot.”
“She says you’ve been calling.”
“She doesn’t answer.”
“That usually means someone doesn’t want to talk.”
“I know what it means.”
Anna looked back at him.
“Do you?”
The question stayed there.
Frank had no useful answer.
Twenty-three years earlier, Anna’s mother had left him after discovering that he had handled a family crisis the way he handled business disputes, by taking control until everyone else felt like furniture.
He had called it protection.
She had called it suffocation.
Both descriptions had been accurate.
Lily’s voice came from the step.
“Mommy, her dress won’t be pink anymore.”
Anna turned.
“We can wash it.”
“What if it stays brown?”
“Then she’ll have a brown dress.”
Lily considered this with visible concern.
Frank said, “We could buy another one.”
Anna looked at him immediately.
“No.”
He almost asked why.
Then he understood.
Not every damaged thing needed to be replaced by the man with the most money.
Lily hugged the dirty doll.
“I like this one.”
Frank nodded.
“Then we keep this one.”
Evelyn approached before Anna could answer.
Her cheek had darkened from red to a spreading bruise.
She stopped several feet from Frank.
Officer Ruiz remained nearby.
“I’m filing a complaint.”
Anna closed her eyes.
Daniel said from the bench, “Mom, don’t.”
Evelyn turned.
“You were knocked unconscious.”
“For about ten seconds.”
“That is not helping.”
“I’m not trying to help.”
Frank looked at Ruiz.
“Do what you need to do.”
Anna stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m not arguing.”
Evelyn’s expression sharpened.
“You think this is beneath you.”
“No.”
“You think your lawyers will make it disappear.”
Frank said nothing.
That silence answered badly.
Anna stepped between them.
“Dad.”
He looked at his daughter.
“No lawyers fixing anything,” she said.
“Anna.”
“No calls to friends.”
He glanced toward Marcus.
“No favors.”
Frank’s first instinct was irritation.
It arrived fast and hot because obedience had never been his natural language.
Then Lily climbed off the step and walked toward them holding the muddy doll by one hand.
She stopped beside Frank and slipped her smaller hand into his.
His anger went somewhere else.
“All right,” he said.
Anna searched his face.
“You mean that?”
“I do.”
Evelyn laughed softly.
“We’ll see.”
Frank looked at Lily’s fingers inside his.
“Yes,” he said.
“We will.”
Officer Ruiz asked Evelyn to move to the patio so she could finish taking her statement without everyone talking over one another.
May you like
Evelyn went, but she did not sit.
She stood beside the glass door with one hand pressed lightly to her cheek, speaking in the careful, clipped voice she used whenever she wanted anger to resemble dignity.
