Chương 10
Arianne looked at her father for several seconds, as if testing whether he meant it.
Then she nodded once.
“Good.”
Melissa glanced between them.
“I’m going to file before noon.”
Arianne shifted Gideon carefully against the pillow.
“What do you need from me?”
“Your signature, a complete statement, and every message between you and Derek that could matter.”
Arianne’s face tightened.
“There are hundreds.”
“We don’t need hundreds.”
Melissa leaned forward.
“We need the ones that establish pattern, timing, fear, control, and what happened before last night.”
Baldric reached for his phone.
Melissa pointed at him without looking away from Arianne.
“Not you.”
He stopped.
“I was checking the time.”
“You have a watch.”
“I forgot I was wearing it.”
“That I believe.”
Arianne gave the faintest smile.
Then Melissa asked, “Where is your phone?”
Arianne looked around.
“Dad?”
Baldric frowned.
“You had it when we came in.”
“The deputies gave it back?”
“I thought they did.”
Arianne searched the tray table.
Her purse was not there.
Her coat had never made it to the hospital.
The small plastic belongings bag at the foot of the bed held one shoe, a broken hair clip, and her wedding ring.
She stared at the ring.
“I took that off?”
Baldric followed her gaze.
“I don’t know.”
Arianne reached for the bag.
The ring slid against the plastic with a soft metallic sound.
She did not touch it.
Melissa asked, “Could the phone still be with law enforcement?”
“Maybe.”
Baldric stood.
“I’ll ask.”
Melissa let him.
In the hallway, Deputy Ellis was returning with a paper cup of coffee.
Baldric intercepted her.
“Arianne’s phone.”
Ellis stopped.
“What about it?”
“She can’t find it.”
The deputy frowned.
“It was logged at the scene.”
“Logged where?”
“With responding officers.”
“Was it taken as evidence?”
“Initially.”
“Then?”
Ellis pulled out her own phone and made a call.
Baldric waited.
The hospital corridor had become busier.
A janitor steered a floor machine past them.
Two nurses were discussing staffing.
Someone somewhere was laughing too loudly.
Ellis ended the call.
“It was transferred to investigators.”
“Why?”
“They obtained consent from your daughter last night while she was intermittently conscious.”
Baldric’s face hardened.
“She was drugged.”
Ellis held up a hand.
“They also obtained a warrant this morning.”
That stopped him.
“For her phone?”
“For both phones.”
“Both?”
“Derek’s and Arianne’s.”
Baldric’s pulse shifted.
“Based on what?”
“I’m not discussing the affidavit.”
“Fine.”
He glanced toward Arianne’s room.
“She needs messages for a protective-order filing.”
“Her lawyer can request copies through the proper channel.”
“Today?”
Ellis looked almost apologetic.
“Probably not today.”
Baldric swore under his breath.
“Mr. Hale.”
“I know.”
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“Procedure.”
“Yes.”
“Everybody loves procedure until their daughter is the one waiting.”
Ellis took a sip of coffee.
“And everybody hates procedure until it prevents the wrong person from controlling the evidence.”
Baldric looked at her.
She did not smile.
He nodded.
“That was fair.”
“Write it down.”
He returned to the room.
Melissa was already dictating notes into her phone while Arianne spoke.
“No messages for now,” Baldric said.
Melissa stopped recording.
“Police have the phone?”
“Yes.”
“Warrant?”
“Yes.”
Melissa nodded.
“Then we work around it.”
Arianne looked frustrated.
“With what?”
“With the things Derek can’t take from you.”
She tapped the legal pad.
“Dates.”
Arianne stared at her.
“Dates?”
“Start with the first time you were afraid of him.”
Arianne’s mouth opened.
Then closed.
Baldric lowered himself into the chair by the wall.
For the next forty minutes, Arianne reconstructed six years of her marriage in fragments.
Not every memory was dramatic.
Some were almost embarrassingly ordinary.
The first time Derek mocked her in front of friends for ordering the wrong wine.
The week he stopped speaking to her because she accepted a freelance design job without asking him.
The Christmas Bertha returned a gift Arianne had bought Gideon because it looked “cheap.”
The night Derek punched a pantry door after Arianne said she wanted to visit Baldric alone.
The morning he apologized by making pancakes.
The afternoon he cried after Gideon was born and promised he would never become like his own father.
Melissa wrote all of it.
She asked about injuries.
Arianne named three.
Then five.
Then said, “I don’t know.”
Melissa stopped.
“That’s okay.”
“It doesn’t feel okay.”
“No.”
Arianne stared at Gideon, still sleeping.
“I kept waiting for a version of him that only existed after he hurt me.”
Baldric closed his eyes.
Melissa did not comment.
Arianne continued.
“He was nicest when he had something to make up for.”
Her voice remained calm, which made the words heavier.
“The worse it got, the better he became afterward.”
Melissa wrote one final note.
Then she said, “That matters.”
Arianne gave a tired laugh.
“Everything matters today.”
Melissa stood.
“I’ll be back after filing.”
At the door, she looked at Baldric.
“Do not call Roger.”
Baldric held up both hands.
“I’m developing a reputation I don’t deserve.”
“You earned it before breakfast.”
When she left, Arianne looked at the wedding ring again.
Gideon woke beside her.
He blinked at the ceiling, then seemed briefly confused by where he was.
“Mom?”
“I’m here.”
He turned and buried his face against her side.
Arianne stroked his hair.
Baldric looked away.
His phone buzzed again.
This time Daniel had sent a photograph.
It showed the exterior of Northline’s headquarters with three television trucks parked outside.
Baldric stared at it.
Arianne noticed.
“What happened?”
“Reporters.”
“Already?”
“Apparently.”
“About you?”
“I don’t know.”
Another message arrived.
A local business reporter had posted that Vance Industrial faced sudden contract suspensions amid unspecified financial concerns.
No mention of Baldric.
No mention of Arianne.
Not yet.
Daniel called a few seconds later.
Baldric stepped into the hall.
“How bad?”
“Manageable.”
“That word means bad.”
“It means not catastrophic.”
“What are they asking?”
“Whether Northline is preparing to terminate Vance agreements.”
“And?”
“We’re saying reviews are ongoing.”
“Good.”
May you like
Daniel hesitated.
“Roger is at the building.”
