Chương 5
Emily turned her face away from the camera at first.
The officer lowered it immediately.
“We can wait.”
Emily looked at Noah.
He was watching Daniel.
Daniel was watching the floor.
Emily faced forward again.
“Do it.”
The camera clicked.
The sound was small.
Still, Daniel lifted his head.
Emily did not look away this time.
The officer took another photograph from the side.
Then another beneath Emily’s jaw.
Noah shifted closer until his shoulder touched hers.
The paramedic finished checking Emily’s blood pressure and frowned at the reading without comment.
Emily hated that frown.
It made the night feel less like something she could clean up in the morning.
Daniel had always preferred problems that could be cleaned up.
Broken dishes.
Dented drywall.
A split lip hidden beneath concealer.
Things without records.
Things that did not speak.
The officer beside Daniel guided him toward the hallway.
Daniel resisted for half a second.
Not enough to make it obvious.
Enough that the hand on his arm tightened.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Outside for now.”
“This is my house.”
The officer did not answer.
Daniel looked toward Emily.
“I need my shoes.”
Emily almost said they were by the garage door.
The answer rose automatically.
Years of answering practical questions for him had trained her faster than fear.
She stopped herself.
The officer told Daniel someone would retrieve what he needed if necessary.
Daniel’s gaze lingered on Emily.
She could see him trying to understand the silence.
Then they took him away.
His footsteps faded down the hall.
The front door opened.
Cold air moved through the house from both ends.
Emily listened until she heard the door close again.
Noah exhaled.
It was the first full breath she had heard from him all night.
The paramedic touched Emily’s shoulder.
“Let’s get you checked out.”
Emily nodded.
Standing took more effort the second time.
Her legs felt unreliable, as if the floor had changed angles while she was sitting.
Noah rose with her.
He refused the paramedic’s offered hand.
Emily noticed but said nothing.
Stallone remained near the island speaking quietly with an officer.
His posture had lost some of the hard edge it carried during the confrontation.
He looked older now.
Not weak.
Just tired in a way broad shoulders could not hide.
Emily wondered what he had been doing ten minutes before entering her kitchen.
The thought felt almost rude.
She had turned him into an answer because he had arrived when she needed one.
He had been a person before that.
He would be one after.
The officer handed his identification back.
Stallone slid it into his jacket.
Then he looked toward Emily.
He did not approach.
She appreciated that too.
The paramedic guided her toward the hallway.
Noah stayed attached to her hand.
At the doorway, Emily stopped.
The broken cabinet was visible behind her.
Daniel’s coffee cup still stood on the counter.
The corded phone dangled from its cable.
A chair remained skewed from where Daniel had kicked it.
The blue plate was still beneath the table.
She stared at that plate.
Noah followed her gaze.
“I can get it.”
“No.”
He looked confused.
Emily almost smiled.
“Leave it.”
They walked away from it together.
The front room was brighter than the kitchen because emergency lights flashed through the blinds.
Neighbors had gathered beyond the lawn.
Emily saw silhouettes near the sidewalk.
Someone held a phone.
Her stomach dropped.
The paramedic noticed.
“We can take you out the side.”
Emily nearly agreed.
Then she imagined Daniel later telling people she had hidden.
That she was unstable.
That officers had overreacted.
That no one had actually seen her.
Those thoughts did not make sense yet.
She knew that.
Still, fear had its own logic.
“No.”
Her voice rasped.
“We’ll go out the front.”
Noah looked up at her.
She squeezed his hand.
The front door opened.
Night air hit her throat and made her cough.
The gathered neighbors went silent.
Emily recognized Mrs. Alvarez from three houses down wearing pink slippers and a winter coat over what appeared to be pajamas.
Mr. Jenkins stood near his mailbox.
A teenage girl Emily had seen walking a white terrier held the dog against her chest.
No one looked like they knew where to put their eyes.
Emily hated them for being there.
Then she hated herself for hating them.
Mrs. Alvarez raised one hand to her mouth.
Emily looked away.
An ambulance waited at the curb.
Daniel sat in the back of a patrol car farther down the driveway.
His face was partially visible through the window.
He watched Emily cross the lawn.
Noah saw him too.
His grip tightened.
Emily shifted her body so she stood between Noah and the cruiser.
The gesture was almost useless.
It still mattered.
A neighbor whispered something.
Another answered.
Emily could not make out the words.
She imagined all of them anyway.
What happened?
Did you know?
I always thought he was nice.
People loved that sentence.
They had said it after other men were arrested.
Emily had said it herself once.
The thought made her sick.
The paramedic opened the ambulance doors.
Noah hesitated.
Emily climbed first.
He followed.
The interior smelled like plastic, antiseptic, and something faintly metallic.
The paramedic helped Emily sit on the stretcher.
Noah took the bench opposite her.
He looked suddenly very young under the harsh white light.
His knees did not reach the floor.
Emily reached across the narrow space.
He took her hand.
Outside, an officer spoke with the paramedic.
Emily heard fragments about Noah being evaluated too.
She nodded before anyone asked.
The doors remained open.
From the ambulance, she could see Stallone near the front porch giving another statement.
Mrs. Alvarez approached him, then stopped when an officer redirected her.
The whole neighborhood seemed to orbit the house without coming too close.
Daniel’s cruiser started.
Emily heard the engine before she saw the vehicle move.
May you like
Her body went rigid.
Noah looked over his shoulder.
