Chương 4
Daniel did not move.
He waited for Claire to speak first because some instinct told him that whatever came next would matter more than anything he could force out of her.
“Claire,” he said finally, “who was he?”
She looked at Eli.
The boy’s face had already answered enough.
He was not confused.
He was not making something up.
He was terrified of what happened after he told the truth.
“Eli,” Claire said softly, “go back to bed.”
The boy shook his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re not in trouble.”
“I wasn’t supposed to tell.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Who told you that?”
Eli’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Claire looked away.
That was the second time that night Daniel saw fear cross her face.
Not guilt.
Fear.
“Eli,” Daniel said, lowering himself until they were almost eye level, “look at me.”
The boy did.
“You did the right thing telling us.”
Claire’s eyes flashed toward him.
“Daniel.”
“No.”
His voice was quiet, but it carried.
“He needs to hear that.”
Eli swallowed.
“Mom said I would make things worse.”
The sentence hurt because it sounded practiced.
Not like something a child invented.
Like something he had repeated until he believed it.
Daniel turned toward Claire.
“What man came here?”
She pressed her lips together.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know his name?”
“No.”
“You let a stranger around our son?”
Her expression changed.
A small spark of anger pushed through the fear.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make this simple.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You just said you don’t know who a man is who was alone with Eli.”
“I said I don’t know his name.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
Claire looked down at the floor.
“I met him at the grocery store.”
“When?”
“About a month ago.”
“A month ago.”
Daniel repeated the words slowly.
The timeline moved around him.
The email.
The school notice.
Eli hiding.
The missing photograph.
Everything seemed connected, but he did not know how.
“What did he want?”
Claire rubbed her hands together.
“He said he knew your family.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“My family?”
“He knew your father.”
That stopped him.
For a moment, the anger shifted into confusion.
“My dad died four years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then how?”
Claire sat down.
The chair made a small scraping sound against the floor.
“He said he worked with him.”
Daniel looked at Eli.
The boy was still standing there holding the sweatshirt.
“Why would he come here?”
Claire did not answer immediately.
The silence became its own answer.
“Claire.”
“He said your father left things unfinished.”
Daniel felt his stomach tighten.
His father had left plenty unfinished.
Bills.
Arguments.
A garage full of broken tools after his last years fighting cancer.
But not secrets.
Not that he knew of.
“What things?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know, or you won’t tell me?”
Claire looked up.
“I don’t know.”
Her voice cracked slightly.
“I thought he was trying to help.”
“With what?”
“With you.”
The words made him step back.
“With me?”
“He said you were struggling.”
Daniel almost laughed.
The sound died before it came out.
“Struggling.”
“He said you were angry all the time.”
Daniel looked at Eli.
The boy stared at the floor.
A memory surfaced.
A night before he left.
He had come home from work after a fourteen-hour day.
Eli had spilled juice on a stack of paperwork.
Daniel had yelled.
Not screamed.
Not threatened.
But yelled.
The look on Eli’s face afterward had stayed with him for months.
He had apologized.
He had bought a new notebook.
He had promised himself it would not happen again.
But promises did not erase moments.
“What else did he say?”
Claire hesitated.
“He said you were hiding something.”
Daniel stared at her.
“About what?”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I don’t.”
She stood suddenly.
“He showed up when I was exhausted and scared and trying to figure out how to take care of Eli alone.”
Daniel almost responded.
Then stopped.
Because that part was true.
Claire had been alone.
And he hated that he had used the word “alone” as an accusation when he knew exactly how it felt.
But the rest of it still made no sense.
“You let him talk to Eli.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Once.”
“Once?”
“Only once.”
“When?”
“The day Eli was absent.”
Daniel looked at the attendance notice again.
“What happened that day?”
Claire sat back down.
“He came by because he wanted to talk to me.”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“While Eli was home?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You keep saying you don’t know, but you keep leaving out the parts where you made choices.”
Claire’s face tightened.
“That’s fair.”
The admission surprised him.
She looked toward the hallway.
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“He knew things.”
“What things?”
“Things about your dad.”
Daniel felt the room shift.
“What things?”
Claire shook her head.
“I can’t explain it.”
“You can.”
“No.”
The word came out with more force.
“No, Daniel, I can’t.”
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then Eli whispered.
“He had Grandpa’s watch.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
Eli looked at Claire.
“I wasn’t supposed to say that either.”
Claire covered her face with one hand.
Daniel walked toward his son.
“What watch?”
“The gold one.”
His father’s watch.
The one Daniel had searched for after the funeral.
The one his mother said she thought had been packed away.
The one he assumed was lost.
“How did he get that?”
Eli shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
She looked back at him.
Neither of them had an explanation.
That was the part that frightened him.
Not a lie.
Not an argument.
A missing piece that neither parent could account for.
“I’m calling Jenna,” Daniel said.
Claire nodded.
This time she did not argue.
He stepped into the hallway and pulled out his phone.
Jenna answered after two rings.
May you like
“Daniel?”
Her voice changed when she heard the silence on his end.
