Chương 4
Ruiz noticed.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I found the withdrawals.”
Christopher laughed softly.
“There.”
Ruiz looked at him.
“There what?”
“That fixation.”
Savannah felt something shift in her chest.
Not fear exactly.
Recognition.
Christopher had not invented this story during the 911 call.
He had been building it.
Maybe not for long.
Maybe only since he realized she was tracing the money.
But he had been building it.
“You told your mother I was unstable,” Savannah said.
Beatrice’s face changed.
Christopher’s eyes hardened.
“No, I didn’t.”
“You asked her whether she thought I was working too much.”
“That’s conversation.”
“You told Mark Ellison I was having panic attacks.”
Christopher blinked.
That landed.
Savannah had discovered the message while checking a tablet Christopher had left signed into their shared family account.
At the time, she had dismissed it as another complaint to an old friend.
Now it looked different.
Ruiz watched him.
“Who is Mark Ellison?”
“A friend.”
Savannah answered at the same time.
“His former business partner.”
Christopher pointed at her.
“See how she does that?”
Ruiz did not react.
Savannah walked to a drawer and removed her phone.
Christopher immediately stepped forward.
Pike blocked him with one arm.
“Sir.”
“She could be deleting things.”
Savannah unlocked the screen.
“I have screenshots.”
Ruiz accepted the phone.
Savannah had organized the images by date because that was how her mind worked when frightened.
Lists.
Folders.
Labels.
Her mother used to tease her for alphabetizing canned goods when Savannah was ten.
She had stopped after Savannah explained that beans belonged beside beans.
Ruiz scrolled.
Christopher’s face tightened.
“What is that?”
“Messages from your tablet.”
“You went through my private messages?”
“They were synced to the family account.”
“That doesn’t give you the right.”
Savannah said nothing.
The irony was too large to touch.
Ruiz read one message aloud.
“Savannah’s been having episodes lately.”
Christopher’s shoulders stiffened.
“That’s out of context.”
Ruiz continued scrolling.
“She gets paranoid about finances.”
Beatrice looked at her son.
“When did you write that?”
Christopher ignored her.
Savannah watched Beatrice’s expression carefully.
For the first time that morning, there was fear in it.
Not fear of Savannah.
Fear of Christopher.
Or perhaps fear of discovering that she had been given a role in a story without being told what the story was.
Ruiz handed the phone back.
“Mr. Mercer, step into the living room with Officer Pike.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Pike’s posture changed almost imperceptibly.
“Sir, this isn’t optional.”
Christopher looked at Savannah.
The anger in his face had gone flat.
“You planned this.”
Savannah stared at him.
“No.”
“You had the folder ready.”
“I had a lawyer meeting scheduled for this afternoon.”
His face changed again.
That piece of information struck harder than anything else had.
“You were going to divorce me.”
Savannah’s throat tightened.
She had not decided that.
Not completely.
The appointment was supposed to explain her options.
She had spent three nights convincing herself that asking about divorce was not the same as filing.
“I was going to find out what you’d done.”
Christopher laughed once, without humor.
“You already decided.”
Ruiz interrupted.
“Living room.”
Pike guided him away.
Christopher did not resist, but he looked back at Savannah twice.
The second time, she barely recognized him.
Beatrice remained by the island.
The moment the men disappeared around the corner, she whispered, “He told me you approved the trip.”
Savannah looked at her.
Beatrice touched the bracelet.
“And this.”
Savannah did not answer quickly.
Part of her wanted to punish Beatrice with silence.
Another part wanted the truth.
“Did you know he took money from the emergency fund?”
“No.”
“You never asked how he was paying for any of it?”
Beatrice’s cheeks colored.
“He said an investment had paid out.”
“What investment?”
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t ask?”
Beatrice’s mouth tightened.
“You’ve always made money sound vulgar.”
Savannah almost laughed.
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
Beatrice looked toward the living room.
“No, I didn’t ask.”
For seven years, Savannah had imagined Beatrice as Christopher’s accomplice.
It had been emotionally convenient.
Two selfish people on one side.
Savannah on the other.
But now Beatrice looked less like an accomplice and more like someone who had accepted benefits because questioning them might have required giving something up.
That did not make Savannah like her more.
It only made the shape of the problem uglier.
Ruiz returned alone.
“We’re going to separate everyone while we finish statements.”
Savannah nodded.
“Is he being arrested?”
“I’m not making that determination this second.”
Beatrice gripped the edge of the island.
“For what?”
Ruiz glanced at Savannah’s face.
“Potential domestic assault.”
Beatrice went pale.
“He didn’t mean to burn her.”
Savannah looked at her.
Beatrice swallowed.
“I mean, I don’t know what he meant.”
Ruiz asked Savannah to photograph the injury before washing her face again.
Pike photographed the broken mug and the floor.
A paramedic unit arrived despite Savannah’s earlier refusal, and a woman with tired eyes examined the burn beneath the kitchen lights.
“Superficial partial thickness in one area,” she said.
“You need follow-up.”
Christopher began shouting from the living room.
“I want my attorney.”
Pike answered something Savannah could not hear.
The paramedic applied a sterile dressing along Savannah’s cheek.
“Try not to touch it.”
“I’ll try.”
“You’re going to touch it.”
Savannah looked at her.
The paramedic shrugged.
“Everybody does.”
For some reason, Savannah laughed.
It came out small and shaky and turned halfway into something else.
She pressed her lips together.
The paramedic pretended not to notice.
Ruiz returned carrying the blue folder.
“There’s another issue.”
Savannah looked up.
“What?”
Ruiz tapped the financial documents Savannah had included behind the deed.
“You mentioned forty thousand dollars missing.”
“Yes.”
“Your husband says those withdrawals were reimbursement.”
“For what?”
“He says he invested personal funds into your company when it was starting.”
Savannah stared at her.
Christopher had never invested a dollar in Mercer Adaptive Systems.
Not one.
May you like
Ruiz continued.
“He says you’ve been withholding money he’s legally owed.”
