Chương 11
“What if I forget?”
“You say you forgot.”
Lily looked at Daniel.
“What if they don’t believe me?”
Daniel put his phone down.
The question hit him visibly.
Claire glanced at him, but he answered before she could.
“Then that is not your job to fix.”
Lily frowned.
“My job?”
“Your job is just to tell what you remember.”
“And then?”
Daniel swallowed.
“And then the grown-ups do the grown-up part.”
Lily considered that.
“Grown-up stuff is still boring.”
Vincent slid a napkin toward her.
“Excellent.”
She looked at him.
“You said boring is bad.”
“Not today.”
The child advocacy center occupied a low brick building beside a pediatric dental office and a tax preparation service.
Nothing about it announced what happened inside.
That seemed deliberate.
Claire drove Lily.
Daniel followed in his own car.
Vincent came last because Detective Alvarez had warned them against arriving as a single anxious procession that might make Lily feel as though she were being taken somewhere terrible.
Vincent privately thought three vehicles looked worse.
He kept that opinion to himself.
Inside, the waiting room had pale green walls, a shelf of children’s books, and a wooden bead maze on a low table.
Lily went directly to the bead maze.
Claire sat beside her.
Daniel remained standing until a receptionist asked him twice whether he wanted a chair.
He took one.
Vincent found coffee in a machine near the restrooms.
It tasted burnt.
He drank it anyway.
A woman named Marissa Kane came through a side door about fifteen minutes later.
She wore navy slacks, white sneakers, and a badge on a lanyard.
Her voice was friendly without being overly bright.
“Lily?”
Lily looked at Claire.
Marissa smiled.
“My name is Marissa.”
Lily said nothing.
“I have stickers in my room.”
That got her attention.
“What kind?”
“Mostly animals.”
“Do you have unicorns?”
“Two.”
Lily stood.
Claire rose instinctively.
Marissa held up one hand gently.
“Parents stay here.”
Claire froze.
Lily’s grip tightened around her fingers.
“I can’t come?”
“No, baby.”
Lily’s eyes widened.
Claire knelt.
“I’ll be right here when you come back.”
“What if I want you?”
“You can tell Marissa.”
Marissa nodded.
“We can stop anytime.”
Lily looked at Vincent.
He was leaning against the wall with both hands in his trouser pockets.
He gave her a small nod.
“Go see if she lied about the unicorns.”
Marissa smiled.
“I would never risk that.”
Lily released Claire’s hand.
She followed Marissa through the door.
The lock clicked softly behind them.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then Daniel sat down.
Claire stared at the closed door.
Vincent threw the coffee cup away.
Daniel checked the time.
Claire looked at him.
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Do not count the minutes.”
“I looked at the clock.”
“I know what you’re doing.”
Daniel put his phone facedown on his knee.
“I’m sitting here.”
“You’re calculating.”
“Claire.”
She closed her eyes.
“Sorry.”
Daniel rubbed his palms together.
“No, you’re right.”
Vincent sat across from them.
“Everybody stop apologizing for breathing.”
Claire looked at him.
“That’s rich.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
A television mounted near the ceiling played a muted home renovation program.
A couple on the screen argued cheerfully about kitchen cabinets.
Vincent watched for ten minutes without understanding a word.
Daniel’s phone vibrated.
He looked down.
Vanessa.
The name lit the screen.
Claire saw it.
“So much for communication through counsel.”
Daniel did not answer.
The phone stopped.
It vibrated again almost immediately.
A text appeared on the preview.
Please tell me what’s happening.
Daniel stared at it.
Vincent said, “Don’t.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I know.”
Claire shifted in her chair.
“She’s still your wife.”
Daniel gave her a tired look.
“I’m aware.”
“I’m not defending her.”
“I know.”
His phone buzzed again.
I’m scared too.
Daniel turned the device over.
Claire watched his face.
“You can care that she’s scared and still not answer.”
He looked at her.
“That sounds like therapy.”
“It sounds like twelve years of learning not to fix every uncomfortable feeling immediately.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“Was that directed at me?”
“Some of it.”
Vincent stood and went for another terrible coffee.
This one tasted worse.
When he returned, forty-seven minutes had passed.
Daniel did not say the number.
Claire knew it anyway.
The door opened.
Marissa stepped out alone.
All three adults stood.
“She’s fine,” Marissa said immediately.
Claire’s shoulders dropped.
“Can I see her?”
“In a minute.”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“What happened?”
Marissa glanced at Vincent.
“We need to speak with the legal parents first.”
Vincent nodded.
He sat again.
Claire and Daniel followed Marissa into a conference room.
The door closed.
Vincent remained in the waiting area.
For the first time since Saturday, he had no role to play.
He hated it.
He picked up a children’s book from the shelf.
A bear had lost a mitten.
Vincent read three pages and realized he had absorbed none of them.
A different door opened.
Detective Alvarez entered with a man Vincent did not recognize.
She walked toward him.
“You came.”
“You told me Monday mattered.”
“It does.”
She glanced toward the conference room.
“They’re talking with the interviewer.”
Vincent stood.
“Did Lily say Vanessa hurt her?”
Alvarez’s expression did not change.
“You know I can’t discuss the interview with you yet.”
“Yet?”
“Depending on what Daniel and Claire consent to.”
Vincent looked toward the closed door.
“Is Lily okay?”
“Yes.”
“Actually okay?”
Alvarez nodded.
“She asked for apple juice and complained that the unicorn sticker was purple instead of pink.”
Vincent exhaled.
“That sounds like her.”
Alvarez studied him.
“You look tired.”
“I’m old.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“It’s close enough.”
She lowered her voice.
“We verified something about Vanessa’s photographs.”
Vincent’s attention sharpened.
“What?”
“I can’t give you all of it.”
“Then give me what you can.”
“The images were taken over several weeks.”
“So the bruises are real.”
“The bruises appear real.”
“From Lily?”
“We don’t know.”
Vincent’s mouth tightened.
May you like
Alvarez continued.
“But one image was taken on a day Lily was not at Daniel’s house.”
