Chương 12
Both of them looked toward the ceiling.
A second later Emma shouted, “I’m fine.”
Rebecca called back, “We didn’t ask.”
“I know.”
Christopher and Rebecca exchanged a look.
For perhaps ten seconds, the kitchen returned to something almost normal.
Then Christopher’s phone rang again.
This time it was Denise Park.
“I’ve seen the condo lease.”
“So have I.”
“She has counsel now.”
Christopher sat straighter.
“Who?”
“Martin Shaw.”
He knew the name.
Shaw represented executives, athletes, and people who preferred legal problems to remain boring enough not to become headlines.
“That seems expensive.”
“You’re married to her.”
Christopher grimaced.
“Right.”
Park continued.
“Shaw says Juliette will voluntarily relocate to the condominium.”
Christopher blinked.
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Why not today?”
“She says she is medically unwell.”
“The pregnancy?”
“That’s the representation.”
Christopher looked at Rebecca.
“And Emma can go home after she leaves?”
“Not so fast.”
His frustration returned immediately.
“Why?”
“The protective order restricts your presence while she is there.”
“She won’t be there.”
“Once we have written confirmation that she has vacated and arrangements concerning access are settled, then yes, probably.”
“Probably.”
“Christopher.”
“I know.”
“No, you are developing a bad relationship with that word.”
Rebecca covered her mouth to hide a smile.
Park continued.
“There is also a temporary agreement being proposed.”
“What agreement?”
“Neither party enters the other’s sleeping or personal storage areas.”
Christopher stared at the wall.
“She has a sleeping area in my house?”
“You are married.”
“Please stop making obvious facts sound surprising.”
“I’ll stop when you stop sounding surprised by them.”
Rebecca mouthed, I like her.
Christopher ignored that too.
Park said, “There’s another condition.”
“Of course there is.”
“Juliette wants access to certain personal documents in the primary bedroom.”
“What documents?”
“She hasn’t specified.”
“Then no.”
“Don’t answer yet.”
“She could remove evidence.”
“So could you.”
Christopher went silent.
Park’s tone softened slightly.
“That is exactly why we inventory property.”
He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“What happens tomorrow?”
“Her lawyer proposes a supervised removal.”
“Police?”
“Possibly a neutral third party.”
“I want Teresa there.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She is a witness.”
Christopher exhaled.
“Right.”
“Nobody connected to the incident should supervise.”
“Then who?”
“We’ll arrange someone.”
After the call, Rebecca went upstairs to check on Emma.
Christopher remained at the kitchen table.
The condo lease sat open on his phone.
Eight months.
Juliette had access to another residence for eight months, and he had either approved it without reading or someone had moved the paperwork through his credentials.
Neither possibility reflected well on him.
He looked at the authorization timestamp.
9:42 p.m.
He tried to remember that date.
A Thursday.
He opened his calendar instead of his email because the calendar was not evidence he had been told to avoid.
Chicago.
He had been in Chicago for a board dinner.
He remembered the hotel because the room’s heating system had clicked all night.
He also remembered approving a batch of documents from his phone between courses while a director talked endlessly about logistics.
Had Juliette’s condo been one of them?
Probably.
The banality of that possibility disturbed him more than fraud would have.
No conspiracy.
Just inattentiveness.
A husband signing something without seeing his wife’s name.
His daughter saying Juliette was mean while he answered email.
His house changing around him while he remained busy enough to call that responsibility.
Rebecca returned.
“She’s asleep again.”
“Should she be?”
“She’s exhausted.”
“The doctor said fatigue.”
“The doctor said watch for unusual fatigue.”
“How do we know what unusual means?”
Rebecca sat across from him.
“We don’t.”
Christopher stood.
“I’m calling.”
“Christopher.”
“I’m calling the hospital.”
She pointed at the chair.
“Sit.”
He stared at her.
“Sit.”
He sat.
Rebecca called the pediatric line herself.
She put the phone on speaker.
A nurse asked about Emma’s breathing, color, alertness, coughing, and whether she had eaten or had fluids.
Rebecca answered.
Christopher interrupted twice.
The nurse said sleepiness after the day Emma had endured was not unexpected, but they should wake her in an hour and make sure she responded normally.
Christopher set an alarm for fifty-five minutes.
Rebecca saw.
“One hour.”
“I know.”
“You set fifty-five.”
“I like margins.”
“You need medication.”
“I’m surrounded by doctors.”
“Wrong specialty.”
He almost laughed again.
The alarm had not gone off when Aaron Bell called.
His voice was different this time.
More focused.
“Police are asking you to come in tomorrow morning.”
Christopher’s stomach tightened.
“For the assault?”
“Yes.”
“Am I being arrested?”
“They have not said.”
“That means maybe.”
“That means we prepare as if yes.”
Rebecca watched his face.
Christopher stood and moved toward the window.
“What do I do?”
“Nothing tonight except stay where you are and follow the order.”
“Should I pack?”
“For what?”
“In case.”
Bell was silent for a moment.
“Bring identification.”
Christopher looked at the backyard.
Rebecca’s neighbor had left a child’s plastic scooter near the sidewalk.
A sprinkler clicked somewhere out of view.
Bell said, “I’ll meet you there.”
Christopher lowered his voice.
“Emma doesn’t know.”
“About what?”
“That I could be arrested.”
“You don’t tell her yet.”
“What if it happens?”
“Then you tell her only what she needs.”
Christopher closed his eyes.
He had spent the last day demanding truth from everyone.
Now truth itself required editing for a seven-year-old.
Bell continued.
“There’s something else from the police report.”
Christopher opened his eyes.
“What?”
“Juliette told officers you had been threatening her before the pool incident.”
Rebecca saw Christopher’s expression change and stood.
“What kind of threats?”
“She says you told her if she ever interfered with your relationship with Emma, you would make sure she left the marriage with nothing.”
Christopher stared at the window.
He had said something close to that.
Not recently.
Six months earlier, during an argument after Juliette accused Rebecca of using Emma to disrupt their weekends.
May you like
Christopher had told Juliette that if she ever made him choose between her and his daughter, there would be no marriage left to divide.
He had not said nothing.
