Chương 14
“Do you remember what she said?”
Hannah’s foot bounced against the chair leg.
“She said he blamed her for everything.”
“Everything meaning what?”
“I don’t know.”
Ellis nodded.
She did not repeat the question.
That helped.
“Did she ever say she was afraid of him?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“At the open house.”
“What did she say?”
Hannah looked at the table.
“She said if he found her, she would have to leave again.”
My chest tightened.
Ellis’s face barely changed.
“Leave where?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Did she say he was looking for you?”
“She said he asked about me.”
Ellis finally opened her notebook.
“Did she tell you why?”
“No.”
Hannah’s voice became smaller.
“She said not to trust him if he came around.”
“Did Trent ever hurt you?”
The room changed.
I felt it in Hannah before I saw it.
Her foot stopped bouncing.
Her shoulders pulled inward.
I wanted to interrupt.
Ellis noticed too.
“You don’t have to answer me right now.”
Hannah stared at the wood grain.
“He grabbed me once.”
I kept my hands flat on my thighs.
Ellis waited.
“Where?”
“Arm.”
“When?”
“I was ten.”
“Did he leave a mark?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Was anyone else there?”
“My mom.”
“What did she do?”
Hannah looked up sharply.
“She made him stop.”
The defense came instantly.
Ellis nodded.
“Okay.”
“She did.”
“I believe you.”
Hannah’s breathing slowed.
Ellis asked one more question.
“Do you think Trent would try to contact you now?”
Hannah stared at the table for a long time.
“I don’t know.”
Ellis wrote something down.
“That’s an acceptable answer.”
Hannah gave her a suspicious look.
“Adults keep saying it today.”
“Usually means we’re scared too.”
That was not the kind of thing officers said on television.
Hannah seemed to appreciate it.
Ellis turned to me.
“I need the phone.”
“Mine?”
“For the messages.”
I handed it over after unlocking the thread.
She photographed the screen with a department-issued device rather than taking mine.
Then she asked for Diane’s message history with Tessa.
Diane stepped forward.
“I can send it.”
“I’d rather preserve what’s on the device first.”
Diane’s face tightened.
“Are you taking my phone?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Documenting what you received.”
“I already sent Claire screenshots.”
Ellis looked at her.
“Screenshots can be useful.”
The sentence carried an implied second half.
Diane handed over the phone.
Ellis scrolled slowly.
At one point her expression changed.
“What?”
Diane leaned forward.
Ellis rotated the screen.
“This message.”
Tessa had written it twelve days earlier.
I can’t go to the police because Trent says he has proof I was using again.
Diane swallowed.
“I thought she was exaggerating.”
Ellis continued scrolling.
Another message.
If I lose Hannah for good, he wins.
Then another.
He keeps saying Claire stole her because I let it happen.
I felt sick.
Hannah could not see the screen from where she sat.
“Is that about me?” she asked.
Nobody answered fast enough.
“Yes,” I said.
Her eyes moved to me.
“What does it say?”
Ellis looked at me.
I looked at Hannah.
“Tessa said Trent blames her for losing custody.”
Hannah’s face hardened.
“That’s stupid.”
“Yes.”
“He’s why things got bad.”
The words came before she seemed to decide whether to say them.
Ellis leaned back slightly.
“How so?”
Hannah shook her head.
“I don’t want to talk about that.”
“Okay.”
No argument.
No adult disappointment.
Just okay.
Hannah looked almost surprised.
The younger officer came in from outside.
He bent toward Ellis and spoke quietly.
I heard only part.
“…vehicle description matches…”
Ellis stood.
“What vehicle?”
The younger officer looked at me.
“Does Trent drive a silver Chevrolet pickup?”
“I don’t know.”
Hannah answered.
“He used to.”
Ellis’s attention sharpened.
“What model?”
“I don’t know.”
“Older or newer?”
“Old.”
“Two-door or four?”
“Two, I think.”
“What happened?”
I asked.
The younger officer looked toward the front window but did not approach it.
“A neighbor reported a silver pickup parked half a block away approximately twenty minutes ago.”
Grandma’s face went gray.
“Where is it now?”
“Gone.”
Hannah gripped the edge of her chair.
Ellis asked, “Which neighbor?”
“House on the corner.”
Grandma said, “The Hendersons.”
“Do they have a doorbell camera?”
“Yes.”
Ellis turned to the younger officer.
“Ask them to preserve the footage.”
He left.
I looked at Hannah.
She had gone still in the same way she had when she first saw the photograph of my house.
I moved my chair closer, not touching her.
“Hey.”
“He was here.”
“We don’t know that.”
“You just said not to lie.”
“I’m not.”
I pointed toward the doorway where the officer had disappeared.
“A truck was here.”
She stared at me.
“It might have been him.”
“Yes.”
My throat felt tight.
“It might have been.”
Priya appeared from the hall holding her tablet against her chest.
“I finished the assessment.”
Nobody responded.
She looked at Ellis.
“Is there an active threat to this address?”
“Possibly.”
Priya’s expression changed.
That single word jeopardized the solution I had been fighting for.
I stood.
“No.”
Priya looked at me.
“I’m sorry?”
“You cannot tell me this house was safe five minutes ago and now make Hannah leave because somebody may have driven past.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You were about to.”
“Claire.”
Marisol’s voice came through my phone.
I had forgotten she was still connected on speaker from an earlier callback.
Priya looked toward the device.
“Is that Marisol Vega?”
“Yes.”
Marisol said, “Priya, what did you find?”
“The home itself passes emergency safety requirements.”
I exhaled.
“However, law enforcement is investigating a possible vehicle associated with the safety concern near the residence.”
Marisol was quiet.
I looked at Hannah.
She already knew what the silence meant.
“No,” she said.
Priya crouched slightly so she was closer to Hannah’s eye level without looming.
“I’m not making a decision yet.”
“Everybody says that before they make one.”
Priya did not deny it.
May you like
Sergeant Ellis came back to the table.
“If the truck belongs to Trent, this address should not be treated as secure.”
