Chương 3
Olivia’s eyes moved to her mother.
“You deleted the video.”
“I tried to turn off the screen.”
“You deleted it.”
Officer Ruiz looked toward the television.
“Is the original still available?”
Olivia nodded.
“I think so.”
Vanessa’s face changed again.
Clara saw it before Adrian did.
“You think so?” Ruiz asked.
“I recorded it first.”
“Why?”
Olivia hesitated.
Her small shoulders rose beneath the pale blue shirt.
“Because she lies.”
Adrian sat down on the bottom stair.
No one had invited him to sit.
His knees simply seemed to stop supporting him.
Vanessa looked at him as if his collapse were a betrayal.
“You’re letting a nine-year-old decide what happened?”
“No,” Adrian said.
He stared at the floor.
“I’m looking at what happened.”
“You’re looking at fifteen seconds.”
“So tell me the other fifteen seconds.”
Vanessa did not answer.
Ruiz exchanged a glance with his partner.
The other officer touched his radio and stepped several feet away.
Clara heard fragments about paramedics and a child involved in a fall.
Emma had begun sucking weakly on the edge of Clara’s collar.
Clara shifted her higher.
The movement sent a sharp line of pain from her wrist to her elbow.
She winced.
Adrian noticed.
“You’re hurt.”
Clara did not answer him.
“Clara.”
“You told me to stay away from her.”
His face tightened.
“I was wrong.”
The apology came too quickly to repair anything.
Clara looked down at Emma.
“Yes.”
Adrian absorbed that.
He did not defend himself.
Vanessa did.
“He saw what anyone would have seen.”
Clara looked at her.
“You counted on that.”
Vanessa’s lips parted.
Clara immediately regretted speaking because Ruiz turned toward her.
“Ms.?”
“Clara Bennett.”
“Ms. Bennett, I’m going to need your statement, but I’d like you not to argue with anyone right now.”
“I’m not arguing.”
“You’re right.”
Ruiz’s tone remained calm.
“I’m asking everyone to give each other space.”
Clara nodded.
Her anger embarrassed her almost as much as Adrian’s suspicion had.
She moved toward a marble bench near one of the columns and sat carefully.
The housekeeper from the east wing, Marisol, appeared at the hallway entrance.
Her hands were wet, as though she had abandoned something in the sink.
She stared at Clara’s scraped palms.
“Oh, honey.”
Clara shook her head once.
Not now.
Marisol understood and stayed where she was.
The paramedics arrived less than four minutes later, bringing with them the peculiar efficiency of people who entered other families’ disasters every day.
A woman with silver hair pulled into a short ponytail approached Clara first.
“I’m Dana.”
“Clara.”
“And this is Emma?”
Clara nodded.
Dana looked at Adrian.
“You’re Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Come over here, please.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“I’m her mother.”
The second paramedic blocked her gently with one arm.
“Give my partner some room.”
Vanessa stared at him in disbelief.
“She is my baby.”
“And we’re going to take care of her.”
That simple refusal seemed to frighten Vanessa more than the police had.
Clara watched Dana examine Emma while explaining each movement in an even voice.
Pupils.
Breathing.
Limbs.
Response.
Clara surrendered the baby reluctantly when Dana asked.
Her arms felt strangely empty afterward.
“What exactly happened?” Dana asked.
Adrian looked toward the television.
“The stroller went down the staircase.”
“With her inside?”
“Yes.”
Dana’s eyes flicked upward at the height of the stairs.
“Was she strapped in?”
Clara answered.
“Yes.”
“You know that for certain?”
“I buckled her in after lunch.”
Vanessa said, “She could have loosened it.”
Clara looked at her.
Ruiz said, “Mrs. Mercer.”
Vanessa pressed her lips together.
Dana continued her examination as if no one else existed.
The baby cried when her left leg was moved, then cried when her right leg was moved, then became furious about being touched at all.
Dana almost smiled.
“Being angry at me is not the worst sign.”
Clara’s breath left her in a shaky rush.
Adrian heard it.
He looked at her and then away.
“We’re taking her in,” Dana said.
“Absolutely,” Adrian replied.
“I’m going with her.”
Vanessa stepped forward again.
Ruiz raised one hand.
“You’re staying here for now.”
“What?”
“We need to speak with you.”
“I can speak at the hospital.”
“No.”
Adrian stood.
Vanessa turned on him.
“Tell them.”
He looked exhausted already.
“Tell them what?”
“That I’m going with Emma.”
Adrian glanced at Olivia.
The girl was standing beside Marisol now, one hand still wrapped around her phone.
Then he looked at Clara.
Then at Vanessa.
“I’m going.”
Vanessa’s eyes hardened.
“She needs her mother.”
“She needs a doctor.”
The words were quiet.
Vanessa stared at him as though he had struck her.
“What are you doing?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Adrian.”
“I don’t.”
It was the first believable thing he had said since entering the foyer.
The paramedics prepared to move Emma.
Clara tried to stand.
Her ankle buckled immediately.
Dana caught her elbow.
“You’re not walking on that.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding from both hands and you just tried to fall over.”
“I need to go with Emma.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You should get checked too.”
Clara laughed once.
It sounded ugly.
He went still.
“What?”
“You think you get to tell me what to do now?”
Marisol looked down.
Olivia looked up.
Clara closed her eyes.
She was ashamed as soon as she heard herself.
Adrian nodded slowly.
“No.”
His voice was low.
“No, I don’t.”
Dana said, “I do, though, and I’m telling you that ankle needs somebody to look at it.”
That broke the tension just enough for Marisol to make a small involuntary sound that might have been a laugh.
Clara looked at her.
Marisol shrugged.
“Medical authority.”
Even Clara smiled for half a second.
Then Emma cried again.
The moment vanished.
Adrian rode with the baby.
Clara was placed in the second ambulance after refusing a stretcher and losing the argument.
Before they took her out, Olivia hurried toward her.
“Clara.”
May you like
The officer started to intervene, but Clara held out a hand.
Olivia stopped inches from it because of the blood.
