Chương 5
Frank stayed near the stone path with Lily.
Daniel remained on the bench while the paramedic packed equipment into a red bag.
Anna moved between them all, picking up the pharmacy bag, retrieving the box that had rolled under the patio chair, wiping mud from Lily’s shoes with a paper towel, then abandoning the paper towel when she realized she was cleaning the wrong problem.
“Daddy.”
Lily tugged Anna’s sleeve.
“Can Grandpa stay?”
Anna looked at Frank.
He could not tell whether she was considering the question or resisting the answer.
“For a little while,” she said.
Lily nodded and seemed satisfied.
Frank was not.
He heard the condition.
A little while.
Marcus came closer.
“Frank.”
Frank glanced toward him.
Marcus lowered his voice.
“Your attorney called back.”
Anna heard anyway.
Her face changed immediately.
Frank held up one hand.
“Tell him never mind.”
Marcus hesitated.
“He asked if—”
“Never mind.”
Marcus nodded once and stepped away.
Anna watched him go.
“You called a lawyer.”
“I called before you told me not to.”
“That was fast.”
“Habit.”
“Convenient habit.”
Frank took that without defending himself.
The second police officer came through the gate and spoke quietly with Ruiz.
Ruiz listened, then looked toward Frank and Daniel.
“Neighbor across the lane has a camera facing part of the backyard gate.”
Evelyn stopped talking.
Daniel’s head came up.
Frank looked toward the wooden fence.
The tops of two houses were visible beyond it.
Ruiz continued.
“It may have caught some audio and maybe a portion of the physical incident.”
Anna rubbed one hand across her forehead.
“Of course it did.”
Daniel gave a humorless laugh.
“Welcome to suburbia.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“You find this amusing?”
“No.”
“You sound amused.”
“I sound concussed.”
The paramedic said, “You are not diagnosed with a concussion.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Thank you, doctor.”
“I’m not a doctor.”
“Even better.”
Anna shut her eyes for a second.
Frank saw the old family pattern immediately.
Evelyn became sharper when afraid.
Daniel became sarcastic.
Anna tried to make everything smaller until she disappeared inside the effort.
He had once believed his own family was uniquely dysfunctional.
Age had taught him that most families simply specialized.
Ruiz asked whether anyone objected to her obtaining the footage voluntarily from the neighbor.
“No,” Frank said.
Evelyn answered at nearly the same time.
“Why would I object?”
Daniel looked toward the fence.
“I’d like to see it.”
“You may not be entitled to see it immediately,” Ruiz said.
Daniel muttered something under his breath.
The paramedics finally left after Daniel signed a refusal of transport.
Ruiz gave him written instructions describing symptoms that should send him to an emergency room.
He folded the paper twice and shoved it into his pocket without reading it.
Frank noticed Anna notice.
“Danny.”
“I heard them.”
“Read the paper.”
“When?”
“Anna.”
“When?”
Daniel pulled it out again.
“Right now, apparently.”
For the first time since she returned, Anna almost smiled.
It vanished quickly.
Ruiz’s partner walked across the lane to speak with the neighbor.
The backyard grew strangely ordinary after the ambulance left.
A lawn mower started somewhere two houses down.
A dog barked twice.
Water dripped from the edge of the garden bench where someone’s shoe had splashed mud onto it.
Lily sat on the stone path and placed her doll upright between her knees.
The doll leaned sideways.
Lily corrected it.
Frank watched her repeat this three times.
“What’s her name?” he asked.
Lily looked offended.
“You know.”
“I’m testing myself.”
“No.”
Frank crouched carefully beside her.
“Okay, I forgot.”
“Rosie.”
“Right.”
“You always forget.”
“That seems to be true.”
“She sleeps by me.”
“I know that part.”
“Not on Fridays.”
Frank looked at Anna.
Anna shrugged.
“She has rules.”
Lily nodded solemnly.
“Friday Rosie sleeps on the pillow.”
“Why Friday?”
Lily looked at him as though he had asked why gravity existed.
“Because.”
Frank accepted this.
Daniel watched them from the bench.
His expression had changed.
The anger was still there, but it had mixed with discomfort.
“Lily.”
She did not look at him.
Daniel swallowed.
“Hey.”
Lily picked at a thread on Rosie’s muddy dress.
Daniel shifted on the bench.
“I shouldn’t have kicked your doll.”
Evelyn turned sharply.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“You don’t need to—”
“Yes, I do.”
Frank looked at Evelyn.
She caught the look and immediately stiffened.
Daniel continued.
“I was being stupid.”
Lily glanced at him.
“You made her dirty.”
“I did.”
“You did it with your shoe.”
“Yeah.”
“That was mean.”
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck.
“Yeah.”
Lily considered him.
Then she looked at Rosie.
“You can’t hold her.”
Daniel nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Evelyn gave a small sound of disbelief.
“She is three years old, Daniel.”
“And I kicked her toy into mud.”
“She was throwing a fit.”
“So?”
“So children need boundaries.”
Daniel looked at his mother.
“Mom, not now.”
“When, exactly?”
He stared at her.
Frank recognized something passing between them that had begun long before today.
Daniel looked away first.
Ruiz finished taking Evelyn’s statement and turned to Frank.
“I need you to understand something.”
Frank stood.
“Go ahead.”
“A complaint doesn’t automatically mean an arrest in every circumstance, and I’m not making a decision until I have the statements and available evidence.”
Frank nodded.
“But if the video shows what people are describing, you may still face consequences.”
“I understand.”
Evelyn said, “He should.”
Anna looked at her.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“Can we not do this every thirty seconds?”
Evelyn’s mouth tightened.
Frank almost said something.
He stopped himself.
Anna saw that too.
Her expression did not soften, but some of the strain left her shoulders.
Ruiz asked Frank to provide identification.
He reached for his wallet.
His fingers brushed the inside pocket where he used to keep cash folded separately from everything else.
There had been a time when that pocket held enough money to solve most immediate inconveniences.
May you like
He had believed that meant he was prepared.
Now the pocket was empty.
