Chương 3
Christopher stepped closer.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Sir, stay where I asked you to stay.”
He stopped.
The younger officer moved slightly to his left, not threatening, just present enough to make the boundary physical.
Savannah’s cheek throbbed beneath the cooling towel.
The laptop remained open on the island, and the board members were still there, reduced now to silent witnesses who clearly understood they had wandered into something far beyond quarterly projections.
Savannah wanted to close the screen again.
She wanted those people gone.
She wanted to be a private person for five minutes.
Instead, she left it open because privacy had become a luxury Christopher was using against her.
The officer continued reading.
“Mrs. Mercer, you purchased the property outright from the lender after a foreclosure action was initiated against your husband’s business guaranty?”
“Yes.”
Christopher shook his head.
“That’s not what happened.”
Savannah looked at him.
“You signed the settlement.”
“I signed refinancing documents.”
“No.”
“You told me they were refinancing documents.”
“I told you they prevented the bank from taking the house.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“It isn’t.”
Beatrice stared between them.
“What are you saying?”
Savannah almost answered her, but the officer spoke first.
“According to this, Mr. Mercer transferred his remaining ownership interest as part of the settlement.”
Christopher’s mouth opened, then closed.
The younger officer glanced at Savannah’s face again.
“Do you need an ambulance?”
“I don’t think so.”
The female officer looked over.
“That’s a burn on your face.”
“I can go to urgent care.”
“You should have someone assess it.”
Christopher made an impatient sound.
“This is insane.”
Both officers turned toward him.
He spread his hands.
“I called because she was threatening us, and now we’re standing here discussing paperwork.”
“You called regarding a domestic disturbance,” the female officer said.
“We are investigating a domestic disturbance.”
“She’s manipulating the situation.”
The officer’s expression did not change.
“Then let us investigate.”
Christopher’s confidence had always depended on other people accepting his version quickly.
When they did not, irritation rushed in to fill the space.
Savannah had watched the pattern at restaurants, with contractors, with customer service representatives, and once with a pediatric dentist Beatrice insisted had overcharged her despite the fact that no child was involved and none of them understood why Beatrice had gone there in the first place.
Christopher’s voice lowered.
“She’s vindictive.”
Savannah folded the towel smaller.
“Christopher.”
“What?”
“The police are standing in our kitchen.”
“My kitchen.”
The officer looked at him.
Christopher shut his mouth.
A strange sound escaped Martin through the laptop.
It might have been a cough.
Savannah suspected it was not.
The officer approached the island.
“Ma’am, I need you to tell me what happened from the beginning.”
Savannah looked at the laptop.
“Can I end this meeting first?”
“Yes.”
Martin leaned toward his camera.
“Savannah, I’m going to call you after this.”
“Not yet.”
His brow furrowed.
“Please don’t call until I contact you.”
There was a pause.
Then Martin nodded.
“All right.”
One by one, the small squares disappeared.
No one said goodbye.
When the screen finally went dark, Savannah felt more exposed than she had while they were watching.
The female officer introduced herself as Officer Elena Ruiz.
Her partner was Officer Daniel Pike.
Ruiz asked Savannah to describe the argument.
Savannah began with Christopher’s demand for the twenty-eight thousand dollars.
She kept her voice even, though the details sounded absurd once spoken aloud to strangers.
A European vacation.
An emergency fund.
A bracelet.
Forty thousand dollars already missing.
Christopher interrupted before she finished.
“That money is marital property.”
Ruiz turned.
“You’ll have a chance to speak.”
“She’s making it sound like I stole from her.”
Savannah looked at him.
“You did.”
“I transferred money between accounts.”
“Without permission.”
“I don’t need permission from my wife.”
Beatrice rubbed the bracelet with her thumb.
Savannah noticed the movement and wondered whether Beatrice had known where the money came from.
She had assumed yes.
Now she was less certain.
That uncertainty irritated her.
Certainty was easier.
Villains were easier when they knew exactly what they were doing.
Ruiz asked about the mug.
Savannah pointed at the broken pieces.
“He picked it up and threw the contents at me.”
“I knocked it over,” Christopher said.
Pike crouched beside the fragments.
“The mug landed six feet from the counter.”
Christopher looked down.
“It bounced.”
Pike did not answer.
Savannah nearly smiled.
She did not because it hurt.
Ruiz asked whether Christopher had struck her before.
The question settled differently than the others.
Savannah stared at the damp towel in her hands.
“No.”
Christopher exhaled loudly.
“Thank you.”
Ruiz raised her eyes.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
Savannah continued.
“He has punched walls.”
Christopher stared at her.
“You’re seriously doing this?”
“He broke a bedroom door two years ago.”
“That door was defective.”
“You kicked it.”
“Because it was stuck.”
“It wasn’t stuck.”
Ruiz held up one hand.
Savannah stopped.
Christopher did not.
“She collects things,” he said.
Savannah looked at him.
“What?”
“She collects old arguments and stores them until she can use them.”
He turned to Ruiz as if she might understand.
“You ever live with someone who keeps score?”
Ruiz’s face remained neutral.
“I live with my sister.”
For one bizarre second, Pike looked down to hide a smile.
The kitchen became almost normal.
Then Savannah’s cheek pulsed, and the illusion disappeared.
Ruiz asked Christopher to tell his version.
He said Savannah had become increasingly controlling about money.
He said she had insulted Beatrice.
He said he reached for the mug while Savannah moved toward him, causing tea to spill.
Savannah remained silent.
He said she had threatened to throw him out.
He said she had become obsessed with accounts and passwords.
He said she had been under enormous pressure at work.
That last one was true.
The truth inside the lie made Savannah feel colder than the lie itself.
Christopher looked at her while saying it.
May you like
“You’ve barely slept in two weeks.”
Savannah’s fingers tightened around the towel.
