Chương 4
The officer opened the red envelope at the station after photographing it, logging it, and making me sign a form I barely read.Inside was a folded sheet of notebook paper and a twenty-dollar bill.The paper had been written in block letters with a black marker.LEO, I CAME BY LIKE YOUR STEPDAD ASKED.YOU DIDN’T ANSWER.I LEFT THE MONEY BECAUSE HE SAID YOU MIGHT NEED MORE FOOD.CALL ME IF YOU SEE THIS.D.A phone number had been written beneath the initial.Officer Bell read it twice.“Do you know anyone whose name starts with D?”I shook my head.“Not anyone Gideon would ask to check on Leo.”Leo sat beside me in a molded plastic chair, swinging one sneaker back and forth.He had been given his clothes after the doctor cleared him, though the hospital had washed his shirt because he had spilled juice on it.He looked tired enough to fold in half.Bell copied the number.“We’ll identify the subscriber.”“Can you call it?”“We can.”“Now?”He studied me.“Yes.”I heard the impatience in my own voice and hated it.“I’m sorry.”“You don’t need to apologize.”“I keep wanting everything to happen immediately.”Bell gave me a tired half smile.“That’s usually not how this works.”I looked at Leo.“That’s becoming clear.”Bell stepped into the hallway to make the call.Leo leaned against my arm.“Are we going home?”“Not yet.”“Where are we going?”I had spent the last hour answering questions from a county child-services investigator named Patrice Monroe, who explained that because Leo had been left without an appropriate caregiver for almost a week, they needed a temporary safety plan before releasing him.The phrase temporary safety plan had made my skin crawl.I was his mother.I had not left him.I had been in another state burying my own mother because my husband had promised me he was caring for my child.None of that changed the fact that Leo had spent six nights alone in my house.Patrice did not accuse me.That almost made it worse.“We might stay with Aunt Nora tonight,” I told him.My sister lived forty minutes away in Delaware, Ohio, with two teenagers, three cats, and a husband who believed every emotional emergency could be improved by grilling something.Leo nodded.“Can I sleep in Ben’s room?”“If Ben agrees.”“He always agrees.”“That’s because you bribe him with Pokémon cards.”Leo looked offended.“I trade.”“Terrible trades.”“They’re fair.”There it was.A flicker of himself.I held onto it harder than I should have.My phone buzzed again.This time it was Roger.Dad is driving home.I checked the time.Just after one in the morning.Hilton Head to Columbus was roughly eleven hours without stops.With two children and a furious man behind the wheel, it could be longer.Do not let him drive tired, I typed.The reply took longer than Camila’s messages had.He won’t let me call Mom.Roger and Camila’s mother, Shannon, lived in Cincinnati.She and Gideon had divorced seven years earlier.Our relationship had never been warm, but it had usually been functional.Pickup schedules.Soccer cleats.A forgotten medication once.She had a habit of ending every text with a period that made even thank you feel hostile.Why not?Roger answered, He says she’ll overreact.My fingers went still.I looked at the closed office door where Bell was still speaking on his phone.Apparently every woman who challenged Gideon risked becoming irrational in his version of events.I called Shannon.She answered on the second ring.“Jennifer?”Her voice was thick with sleep.“Where are the kids?”“In the car with Gideon.”A pause.“Why?”“He took them to Hilton Head.”“I know where he took them.”Her tone sharpened.“Why are they coming back in the middle of the night?”I closed my eyes.“You need to hear this from me before Gideon calls you.”“What happened?”I told her.Not everything.There was too much.I told her Leo had been left at home.I told her how long.I told her Gideon had lied to me about having all three children with him.Shannon did not interrupt once.When I finished, the silence lasted so long I checked the screen to make sure the call had not dropped.Then she said, “Where is my daughter?”“In the car.”“With him driving?”“Yes.”“Give me his location.”“I don’t have it.”“Roger does.”“I don’t know if Gideon allows location sharing.”“He does.”“How do you know?”“Because I pay for Roger’s phone.”Her voice became very calm.“Text me his number.”“You have his number.”“I mean Roger’s new number.”I sent it.“Shannon.”“What?”“Don’t call Gideon angry while he’s driving.”“I’m not stupid.”“I didn’t say you were.”“You didn’t have to.”There was years of old friction in that sentence.Some of it belonged to Gideon.Some of it belonged to us.I had spent too long believing his description of her as impossible because it had made our marriage easier.She had probably spent too long believing whatever version of me he had given her.“I’m sorry,” I said.“For what?”“I don’t know yet.”That stopped her.Then she exhaled.“Get through tonight.”The call ended.Bell returned a minute later.“The number belongs to a man named Daniel Ruiz.”The name meant nothing to me.“Local?”“Columbus address.”“Does Gideon know him?”“He says yes.”My stomach tightened.“You spoke to him?”“He answered.”“Who is he?”“A handyman.”I frowned.Bell continued.“He says Gideon hired him about two months ago to do some repairs at your house.”That part was possible.We had needed a section of fence replaced after a storm.Gideon had handled it.“Daniel says Gideon contacted him Tuesday morning and asked him to stop by the house.”“Why?”“To check whether Leo needed anything.”I stared at Bell.“So Gideon did arrange for somebody to check on him.”“One person.”“Once.”“Yes.”“After three days.”Bell nodded.The anger shifted shape inside me.It did not lessen.It became colder.“What did Daniel think he was checking?”“He says Gideon told him Leo was staying home because a teenage cousin was supposed to be there but had gone out for the afternoon.”I laughed once.“No teenage cousin exists.”Bell already knew that from our earlier interview.“Daniel knocked, didn’t get an answer, called Gideon, and was told not to worry.”“So he left.”“He says he felt uncomfortable.”“Not uncomfortable enough to call the police.”Bell’s face tightened.“No.”I stood and began pacing.Leo watched me.I stopped immediately and sat again.“Did Daniel know Leo was eight?”“He says no.”“Did he know he was alone?”“He says no.”“Do you believe him?”Bell rubbed his jaw.“I believe his statement needs corroboration.”That was officer language for maybe.I looked at the note again.“Why leave twenty dollars?”“Gideon apparently told him the kid might be short on cash.”The sentence made me dizzy.Not because Gideon had forgotten money.Because he had remembered the possibility of running out.He had planned around it.My phone rang.Gideon.I declined.It rang again.I declined that too.Then Shannon called.I answered immediately.“I have them.”“What?”“Roger sent me his location.”Her voice was clipped and fast.“I called the state police because Gideon was driving erratically near Knoxville.”My chest tightened.“Are they okay?”“Yes.”“They stopped him?”“Yes.”I heard a car door slam on her end.“An officer called me.”“Where are Roger and Camila?”“With the trooper.”“And Gideon?”“Talking to another officer.”She inhaled sharply.“I’m driving down.”“Shannon, that’s six hours.”“I know.”“It’s after one.”“I know what time it is.”I looked at Leo.“I can’t tell you not to.”“No.”Her voice softened slightly.“You really can’t.”Then she said, “Roger told me something.”I waited.“He says Gideon started yelling after you stopped taking his calls.”My fingers tightened around the phone.“Did he threaten them?”“No.”“But?”“He kept saying this was all because Leo couldn’t follow one simple instruction.”Leo had gone still beside me.I stood and moved several feet away.“Shannon, not on speaker.”“It isn’t.”“What else?”“He said you were going to make him lose everything over one weekend.”“One weekend?”“I know.”Her anger finally cracked through.“Jennifer, Roger says Gideon told them none of this would have happened if Leo had just stayed inside until Sunday.”I closed my eyes.The note on the refrigerator came back to me.I’ll be back Sunday.The whole trip.All nine days.Not six.Not a mistake extended by circumstance.A plan.Shannon spoke again.“There’s more.”I did not want there to be.“He told Camila he couldn’t afford to take all three kids after the hotel changed the reservation.”I opened my eyes.“Leo said something about that.”“Roger says that isn’t what happened.”“What happened?”“Gideon canceled Leo’s plane ticket.”My mouth went dry.“We drove.”“You were supposed to fly.”The original plan surfaced.Of course we were.I had forgotten because grief had consumed everything around the departure.We had booked flights from Columbus to Savannah four months earlier.Then Gideon had told me the airline had changed times and driving made more sense.“When did he cancel it?”“I don’t know.”“Can Roger see that?”“He saw an email.”“When?”“Before you left for Chicago.”I sat down slowly.“Did Gideon cancel mine too?”Shannon hesitated.“I don’t know.”I opened my email and searched the airline name.The booking confirmation appeared.Five passengers.Me.Gideon.Roger.Camila.Leo.A second email sat beneath it.Reservation modified.I opened it.Three passengers remained.Gideon.Roger.Camila.The modification timestamp was Thursday at 10:14 p.m.My mother was still alive then.She would have her stroke five hours later.Gideon had removed both me and Leo from the vacation before I knew there would be a funeral.My skin went cold.“Shannon.”“What?”“He canceled us before my mother died.”Silence.“Both of you?”“Yes.”“Why?”I looked at the timestamp again.“That’s what I’m going to find out.”When Patrice returned, she brought paperwork and the news that child services had approved Nora’s house as a temporary placement with me staying there.The words temporary placement made Leo look frightened.I explained that it meant we would sleep at Aunt Nora’s until people finished making sure everything was safe.He accepted that answer because he was exhausted.At three in the morning, Nora opened her front door wearing plaid pajama pants, one sock, and an Ohio State sweatshirt.She looked at Leo first.Then she looked at me.Then she pulled both of us inside without saying a word.Her husband, Mark, stood in the kitchen beside a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches.I almost laughed.“Of course you cooked.”He shrugged.“People need sandwiches.”Leo ate half of one before falling asleep at the table.Mark carried him upstairs.Nora waited until we heard the bedroom door close.Then she put both hands flat on the kitchen counter.“Tell me everything.”So I did.She listened without interrupting until I reached the canceled airline reservation.Then she frowned.“Thursday night?”“Yes.”“Before Mom died.”“Yes.”“Jen.”“I know.”“No.”She opened a cabinet, took out a glass, filled it with water, and pushed it toward me.“You don’t know.”I stared at her.“What?”“You were supposed to go on that vacation too.”“I know.”“So why cancel you?”I had been so focused on Leo that I had not asked the obvious question.Nora leaned against the counter.“Maybe he was already planning to leave you behind.”I shook my head.“That doesn’t make sense.”“Does any of this?”“He couldn’t have known Mom was going to die.”“Exactly.”I looked down at the airline email.The modification had not been a reaction to my mother’s death.It had been made before the event that supposedly explained everything.Nora folded her arms.“What happened Thursday?”“Nothing.”“Think.”“I worked.”“What did Gideon do?”“I don’t know.”“Did you argue?”“No.”“Money?”“No.”“Kids?”I stopped.There had been one thing.Small enough that I had almost forgotten it.Thursday evening, Leo had come downstairs carrying the Hilton Head activity brochure.He had asked Gideon whether we could book a dolphin cruise.Gideon had said it was expensive.Leo had offered twenty-three dollars from his savings jar.Roger laughed.Camila said she would contribute ten.I had told Gideon we could skip one restaurant dinner and use the money for the cruise.He had smiled.Not angrily.Not obviously.Just tightly.“We’ll see,” he had said.Later, in bed, he complained that every vacation became about making sure Leo did not feel excluded.I had answered without looking away from my book.“He is part of the family.”Gideon had gone quiet.At the time, I had treated the silence as surrender.Now I could hear it differently.Nora watched my face.“What?”I told her.She did not say what I expected.She did not call him cruel.She did not swear.She simply asked, “Did he cancel the tickets after that?”I checked the timestamp again.The conversation had happened around nine.The reservation changed at 10:14.“Yes.”Nora nodded slowly.My phone vibrated against the counter.A voicemail notification appeared.Gideon had finally stopped calling and left one message.I played it on speaker.His voice sounded exhausted.“Jen, I’m asking you to come home before you make decisions based on half the story.”Nora’s mouth tightened.Gideon continued.“I screwed up.”A pause.“I know that.”Another pause.“But there are things about Leo you don’t know.”Every muscle in my body went rigid.Nora reached for the phone, but I pulled it closer.The message continued.“I was trying to protect this family.”Then his voice lowered.“And before you let police or Shannon or anybody else turn this into something it wasn’t, ask Leo what happened Thursday night.”The voicemail ended.Nora looked at me.“What happened Thursday night?”I stared toward the stairs where my son was sleeping.“I don’t know.”But for the first time since Alan Cho called me from the grocery store, Gideon had said something that sounded less like denial and more like a weapon he had been waiting to use.
