Chương 8
Or maybe he did and chose not to show it.
A knock sounded against the wall outside the curtain.
A detective entered after Emily said yes.
He introduced himself as Detective Morales.
He was in his forties, tired-looking, with a loosened tie and rain spots dried along one shoulder of his coat.
Emily wondered whether it had rained.
She had not noticed.
Morales pulled a chair away from the wall but did not sit immediately.
He asked whether Noah should remain present.
Emily looked at Noah.
“I’m staying.”
The detective waited for Emily.
She nodded.
“For now.”
Morales sat.
He explained that officers at the house had secured the dinner plates, drinking glasses, the seltzer bottle, a medication container found in the trash, and several items from the kitchen.
Emily’s mind caught on one phrase.
“Medication container?”
Morales opened a small notebook.
“An empty prescription bottle.”
“Whose?”
“The label had been removed.”
Noah looked at Emily.
She felt his gaze and kept her eyes on the detective.
“Where was it?”
“In the trash under other garbage.”
Emily pictured the kitchen trash can beside the pantry.
Daniel took the trash out almost every night.
He hated smells.
He hated clutter.
He hated when Emily left receipts on the counter.
“What kind of bottle?”
“Standard amber pharmacy bottle.”
“Could it have been old?”
“Yes.”
Morales did not push.
“Could have been unrelated.”
Emily nodded.
The detective asked about dinner.
Who cooked.
Who served.
Where each person sat.
The questions felt embarrassingly simple.
Daniel had made chicken.
Emily had microwaved vegetables.
Noah had set the table.
Daniel poured the drinks.
Emily stopped.
Morales noticed.
“Take your time.”
“He poured them.”
“Did you see him open the beverages?”
“The seltzer was already open.”
“What about Noah’s water?”
“From the refrigerator dispenser.”
“Did you see him fill it?”
Emily closed her eyes briefly.
“No.”
The answer made Noah shift in his chair.
Morales asked when they became tired.
Emily tried to reconstruct it.
They had eaten around seven.
Daniel barely touched his own food.
She had noticed because she asked if the chicken was overcooked.
He said he was not hungry.
Noah complained that his arms felt heavy.
Daniel told him he stayed up too late.
Emily had laughed.
She hated that laugh now.
“What happened next?”
Morales asked.
Emily told him.
Not everything at once.
She described clearing one plate.
Feeling dizzy near the sink.
Daniel telling her to sit down.
Noah putting his head on the table.
The floor coming closer.
Darkness, or something like darkness.
Then Daniel’s voice on the phone.
Morales wrote without reacting.
“Did you hear who he was speaking to?”
“No.”
“Any name?”
“No.”
“Could you hear the other person?”
“No.”
“Did he say anything besides the sentence you already reported?”
Emily searched her memory.
Daniel had spoken softly.
There had been pauses.
One word surfaced.
Soon.
Another phrase.
No problem.
Maybe.
She was not sure.
“I don’t want to guess.”
Morales nodded.
“That’s useful.”
Emily looked at him.
“What is?”
“Knowing what you’re sure about and what you’re not.”
She almost laughed again.
Daniel had trained certainty out of her.
He could take a thing she watched happen and talk around it until she apologized for remembering.
Morales asked whether Daniel had ever strangled her before.
Noah looked up sharply.
Emily stared at the curtain.
“No.”
“Hit you?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Noah stopped moving.
Emily wished she could take the word back, not because it was untrue, but because her son was hearing it.
Morales asked how many times.
“I don’t know.”
Noah whispered, “Mom.”
Emily looked at him.
His face had gone pale again.
“Not a lot.”
She heard herself minimizing it and stopped.
Morales did not rescue her.
That helped more than comfort would have.
Emily tried again.
“Three times that I remember clearly.”
Noah stood.
“I need the bathroom.”
Emily knew he did not.
The detective stood too.
“I can step out.”
“No.”
Noah moved toward the curtain.
“I just need the bathroom.”
A nurse outside showed him where it was.
Emily watched him leave.
The curtain fell back into place.
For several seconds neither she nor Morales spoke.
Then Emily covered her face with both hands.
“I didn’t think he knew.”
Morales waited.
“I thought I hid it.”
Her voice broke on the last word.
The detective looked down at his notebook.
“Kids notice things adults don’t mean for them to notice.”
Emily dropped her hands.
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
She looked at him.
Morales rubbed his thumb along the edge of the notebook.
“My job isn’t to make this feel better.”
Emily nodded.
She appreciated him for that and resented him for it at the same time.
He asked about Daniel’s finances, work, recent behavior, and whether there had been threats.
Emily told him Daniel managed most of their joint accounts.
He worked as a regional operations manager for a commercial building supplier.
He had become increasingly secretive over the past six months.
He changed the password on their main bank login.
He started taking calls outside.
He accused Emily of overspending despite questioning purchases as small as school shoes.
“Any life insurance policies?”
Morales asked.
Emily looked at him.
“Yes.”
His pen stopped.
“How much?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“When was it taken out?”
“We’ve had something through his job for years.”
“Anything newer?”
Emily thought of an envelope Daniel had asked her to sign in spring.
He said it was updating beneficiaries after his employer changed insurance providers.
She had signed where he pointed.
Her stomach tightened.
“Maybe.”
Morales waited.
Emily told him about the paperwork.
“Did you keep a copy?”
“No.”
“Did you read it?”
Shame rose hot across her face.
“No.”
Morales simply wrote.
The absence of judgment somehow made the shame worse.
Noah returned before the detective could ask another question.
His eyes were dry.
He sat farther from Emily this time.
May you like
She noticed.
She did not ask him to move closer.
