Chương 9
“Thank you.”
“I mean it.”
“I gathered that.”
For the first time since the pool, Christopher laughed normally.
It lasted less than a second.
Then Emma screamed.
Both parents moved at once.
Christopher reached the room first.
Emma was upright in bed, breathing fast, staring toward the doorway.
There was nobody there.
Rebecca sat beside her.
“Sweetheart, what happened?”
Emma looked from her mother to Christopher.
“I thought she was here.”
“Who?”
Emma’s breathing hitched.
“Juliette.”
Christopher crossed to the bed.
“She’s not.”
Emma searched his face.
“Is she coming home?”
The question struck him harder than he expected.
Home.
Not the mansion.
Not Juliette’s house.
Emma still called it home.
Christopher sat carefully on the edge of the mattress.
“No.”
Rebecca looked at him.
He did not take the answer back.
Emma whispered, “Ever?”
Christopher looked at his daughter, then at the bruise on her hand, and finally at the closed hospital door.
“I don’t know what happens forever.”
He kept his voice steady.
“But she will not be there when you come home.”
Christopher kept the promise by making it before he knew how difficult it would be to keep.
The hospital discharged Emma shortly after noon with instructions to watch for worsening cough, trouble breathing, unusual fatigue, vomiting, confusion, or anything else that made either parent uneasy.
Rebecca read the instructions twice.
Christopher read them once and then photographed every page.
Emma complained that both of them were being weird.
“That is because we are weird,” Rebecca told her.
Emma considered this.
“You’re more weird.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Also true.”
Christopher carried Emma’s overnight bag even though it contained almost nothing.
Rebecca carried the hospital paperwork.
Emma walked between them wearing a borrowed sweatshirt over dry leggings that Teresa had brought from the house early that morning.
Teresa had not come inside.
She had left the clothing with security and sent Christopher a message saying she did not want to disturb Emma.
Christopher stared at that message longer than necessary.
Disturb Emma.
Everyone had started speaking around the child as if ordinary words could bruise her.
The parking garage smelled like concrete dust and hot engines.
Emma held Christopher’s hand until they reached Rebecca’s car.
Then she stopped.
“I thought I was going to Dad’s.”
Rebecca looked at Christopher.
He had expected the question and still had no graceful answer.
“You can.”
Emma frowned.
“Then why are we at Mom’s car?”
“Because your dad’s car is still at the house.”
“That’s dumb.”
“It is.”
Rebecca unlocked the doors.
Emma climbed into the back seat.
Christopher stood beside the passenger door.
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“You’re coming with us.”
“I need to go to the house.”
“No.”
“Rebecca.”
“Not alone.”
“I’m not going to confront Juliette.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You’re saying it with your face.”
“I have an expressive face.”
Christopher glanced toward Emma through the window.
She had already found an old pack of gum in the seat pocket and was examining the expiration date as if it were legally binding.
“I need clothes.”
Rebecca stared at his hospital sweatshirt.
“You could build an entire defense around that outfit.”
“Very helpful.”
“You need a lawyer.”
“I have one.”
“You have a corporate lawyer.”
“I have several lawyers.”
“Of course you do.”
Christopher opened the passenger door.
Rebecca caught his sleeve.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“You reported hitting Juliette.”
“Yes.”
“And she reported you.”
“Yes.”
“And there is now an investigation involving your wife, your daughter, a possible attempted drowning, a pregnancy, staff witnesses, and disabled security cameras.”
Christopher looked at her.
“When you list it like that, it sounds bad.”
Rebecca did not smile.
“That joke was terrible.”
“I know.”
She released his sleeve.
“Get someone who handles criminal matters.”
“Today.”
“I said I will.”
They drove to Rebecca’s house first.
Emma fell asleep before they reached the freeway.
Christopher watched her in the side mirror.
Every time her head tipped forward, Rebecca slowed slightly as if speed itself had become suspicious.
When they reached the house, Christopher carried Emma inside.
She woke on the stairs and insisted she could walk.
He put her down.
She immediately stumbled on the first step.
“I’m fine.”
“I saw.”
“You’re doing the face.”
“What face?”
“The dad face.”
“I only have one face.”
“That’s not true.”
She climbed the rest of the stairs herself.
Rebecca looked at Christopher after Emma disappeared into the guest room.
“You’re going to smother her.”
“I’m aware.”
“Good.”
“I’m trying not to.”
“Try harder.”
He gave her a tired look.
Rebecca went to the kitchen.
Christopher followed.
She filled the kettle.
Neither of them drank tea.
Christopher noticed that only after she had switched it on.
Rebecca noticed too.
“Why did I do that?”
“No idea.”
She stared at the kettle.
“I hate tea.”
“I know.”
“Do you want coffee?”
“Yes.”
She switched off the kettle.
For thirty seconds, their lives consisted of finding coffee grounds and arguing quietly about whether the machine needed more water.
Christopher had forgotten how much of marriage had once been made of things like this.
Not grand promises.
Not betrayal.
Not court filings.
Just two people annoyed by an appliance.
Rebecca poured coffee into mismatched mugs.
“Emma can stay here.”
“I assumed.”
“For as long as necessary.”
Christopher nodded.
“I’ll stay too.”
Rebecca stopped.
“No.”
“I’m not asking to move in.”
“You said stay.”
“For tonight.”
She looked toward the hallway.
“You have a house.”
“Emma doesn’t want Juliette there.”
“And?”
“And I told her Juliette wouldn’t be there.”
Rebecca lifted her mug.
“You have control over that?”
“I can tell Juliette to leave.”
“Can you?”
Christopher did not answer.
The mansion belonged to a family trust created before his marriage to Juliette, but marital residence issues were not something he intended to improvise.
Rebecca saw the hesitation.
“Call the lawyer.”
“Now.”
May you like
Christopher set down the coffee and made the call.
His corporate attorney referred him to a criminal defense lawyer named Aaron Bell and a family-law attorney named Denise Park.
