Chương 3
Anger.
Small, exhausted, unmistakable anger.
Arthur noticed.
“So somebody else did?”
Victoria shook her head quickly.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“You’re doing very badly.”
“Arthur, please.”
“Stop saying my name like it helps you.”
The sirens grew louder.
Victoria looked toward the front doors.
Her breathing had become shallow.
“Michael is going to destroy all of us.”
Arthur almost laughed.
Nothing about it was funny, but the absurdity struck somewhere deep enough to produce a single dry sound.
“My son is standing here after six years inside a wall, and you’re warning me about Michael.”
“I’m warning you because you still don’t understand him.”
Daniel lifted his head.
“He came here.”
Arthur looked at him.
“When?”
Daniel’s eyes shifted toward Victoria.
She whispered, “Don’t.”
Arthur’s head turned slowly.
Victoria seemed to realize the command had escaped before she could stop it.
Daniel looked back at Arthur.
“Last night.”
Arthur felt Hannah go rigid beside him.
“He was here last night?”
Daniel nodded.
Victoria stepped backward.
Arthur did not raise his voice.
“What happened?”
Daniel’s gaze dropped to the recorder.
“He said I was getting too old.”
Arthur felt his pulse in his damaged palm.
Blood had dried in a dark line along his wrist.
Hannah said, “Too old for what?”
Daniel looked confused by the question.
“Too old to hide.”
Nobody spoke.
Outside, tires rolled over the circular driveway.
Victoria stared toward the entry hall as red light flickered briefly across the white walls.
Arthur carried Daniel away from her.
Victoria followed.
“Arthur.”
He kept walking.
“Arthur, they cannot hear that recording yet.”
He stopped so abruptly that Hannah nearly walked into him.
He turned.
“Say that again.”
Victoria’s lips trembled.
“I’m trying to prevent something worse.”
“There is nothing worse.”
“There is.”
Daniel’s breathing quickened.
Arthur immediately regretted turning back.
He faced the entrance again.
Hannah stepped between Victoria and them.
“Whatever you think you’re preventing can wait.”
Victoria stared at her.
“You have always hated me.”
Hannah blinked.
“That matters to you right now?”
“You’ve wanted him to believe the worst about me since the day you came back.”
Hannah gave a small incredulous shake of her head.
“I came back this morning.”
“You came back into his life.”
“Hannah.”
Arthur’s warning was quiet.
She stopped.
Victoria looked almost grateful for the interruption.
Then the front doors opened.
Two paramedics entered with equipment, followed by a police officer Arthur recognized vaguely from neighborhood charity events.
The officer took in the broken wall, the rubble, the sledgehammer, Arthur’s bloody hand, Daniel in his arms, and Victoria standing ten feet away in red.
His professional expression tightened.
“Who needs medical attention?”
“My son.”
Arthur heard his own voice change on those two words.
One paramedic approached carefully.
“Can you set him down for me?”
Daniel clung harder.
Arthur felt it.
“He doesn’t want to.”
“That’s okay.”
The paramedic crouched slightly to bring herself closer to Daniel’s eye level.
“My name’s Erin.”
Daniel stared at her.
“I’m not going to take you anywhere without telling you first.”
He said nothing.
“We just need to help you breathe a little easier.”
Daniel looked at Arthur.
Arthur nodded.
“I stay with you.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
Daniel released one fist from Arthur’s jacket.
The paramedics guided them into the brighter front sitting room and placed Daniel on a sofa near the windows.
Arthur sat beside him.
Erin clipped a pulse oximeter onto Daniel’s finger.
Her partner began asking questions.
“How long was he in the enclosed space?”
Arthur looked toward Victoria.
She had followed as far as the doorway.
“I don’t know.”
The paramedic looked at Daniel.
“Do you know, buddy?”
Daniel’s eyes remained fixed on Arthur.
“Not today.”
Arthur felt something cold move through him.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
Erin glanced at Arthur.
“Let’s keep things simple for a minute.”
Arthur nodded, though every instinct in him wanted answers immediately.
Daniel coughed.
Erin listened to his chest.
The police officer approached Victoria.
“Ma’am, I need you to stay here.”
Victoria straightened automatically, dignity returning by habit.
“I live here.”
“Then staying here shouldn’t be difficult.”
Hannah looked down to hide what might have been the beginning of a smile.
Victoria noticed anyway.
“You think this is amusing?”
“No.”
Hannah looked at her.
“I think that was the first normal sentence anyone has said in ten minutes.”
The officer looked at the destroyed wall.
“Who made the opening?”
“I did,” Hannah said.
“With that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Hannah looked at Arthur.
Arthur answered.
“Because the interior measurements didn’t match the renovation drawings.”
The officer waited.
Arthur saw skepticism in his face.
Not disbelief exactly.
Procedure.
“Who owns the property?”
“I do.”
Victoria said, “We do.”
Arthur looked at her.
“No.”
She stiffened.
The officer raised a hand.
“We’ll sort ownership out later.”
Victoria said, “My belongings are here.”
Arthur looked back at Daniel.
The distinction had become almost physically nauseating.
A house.
Shares.
Belongings.
Things adults had arranged around themselves while a child measured time in darkness.
Erin wrapped a blood-pressure cuff around Daniel’s arm.
He watched it inflate.
“Does that hurt?”
“No.”
“Anything hurt?”
Daniel hesitated.
“My ribs sometimes.”
Arthur’s head lifted.
Erin kept her expression neutral.
“Right now?”
“A little.”
“Did you fall?”
Daniel looked toward the doorway.
Victoria looked away.
Arthur stood.
Daniel immediately grabbed his sleeve.
Arthur sat again.
“I’m here.”
Erin glanced at him.
“Good.”
The second paramedic murmured something about oxygen saturation and brought over a small mask.
Daniel recoiled.
“No.”
“It’s just oxygen.”
“No.”
Arthur put his hand over Daniel’s.
“You don’t have to be brave for me.”
Daniel stared at him.
The phrase seemed to confuse him.
Arthur tried again.
“You can hate it.”
Daniel’s lower lip trembled.
“You can still do it.”
After several seconds Daniel allowed Erin to place the mask.
His shoulders remained tense.
Arthur stayed close enough that their knees touched.
Across the room, the officer asked Victoria whether anyone else was inside the house.
May you like
“No.”
Hannah said, “Staff left at noon.”
