Chương 10
Arthur let the smile exist without trying to hold on to it.
Dr. Shah returned with the imaging results.
No fracture.
A mild wrist sprain.
Rest, ice, and monitoring.
Arthur listened carefully enough to repeat the instructions back.
That seemed to matter to him.
Dana spoke with Dr. Shah privately, then came back carrying several forms.
Leo could go home with Arthur.
There would be follow-up.
There would be contact from child protective services.
There would likely be a forensic interview within the next several days.
Arthur signed where he was told.
His signature looked wrong by the fourth page.
Leo fell asleep in the car before they reached the highway.
Arthur sat beside him in the back seat this time.
The driver kept the radio off.
Elena followed behind them until the turn toward her neighborhood.
At the intersection, her headlights disappeared in another direction.
Leo stirred.
“Where’s Elena?”
“She went home.”
His eyes opened.
“She’s coming tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
Arthur heard his own certainty and corrected it.
“If she wants to.”
Leo frowned.
“Why wouldn’t she?”
Arthur looked out the window.
Streetlights slid across the glass.
“People get tired.”
Leo closed his eyes again.
“Elena gets tired but she still comes.”
Arthur said nothing.
When they reached the house, the security technician’s van was parked near the service entrance.
Two police cars remained outside.
The mansion windows glowed warmly from within.
Arthur hated the sight of it.
He had bought the property because Victoria loved the staircase.
She had stood in the foyer during their first showing and looked upward at the chandelier with both hands clasped beneath her chin.
Arthur had watched her face and thought he was buying happiness.
Now the same foyer looked like a place that had kept secrets from him in plain sight.
The technician approached as Arthur carried Leo inside.
“Mr. Mercer?”
Arthur lifted one finger.
The man stopped talking.
Leo slept against Arthur’s shoulder.
Arthur carried him upstairs.
At the east hall, Leo stirred awake.
“No room.”
Arthur stopped.
He looked toward Leo’s bedroom.
The door was open.
Inside, the desk had been moved away from the wall.
Evidence markers sat near the pencil marks.
Arthur turned away.
“Guest room?”
Leo nodded.
Arthur carried him there.
He removed the child’s shoes and set them beside the bed.
Leo curled beneath the blanket.
Arthur sat on the edge.
“You staying?”
“Yes.”
“All night?”
“If you want.”
Leo opened one eye.
“You’ll get a neckache.”
Arthur almost smiled.
“I’ll survive.”
“There’s another bed.”
Arthur looked around.
There was only one bed.
Leo pointed toward the upholstered bench beneath the window.
“That’s not a bed.”
“It can be.”
“For a doll.”
Leo’s eyes closed.
Arthur remained sitting.
After several minutes, Leo whispered, “Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“She told me you liked her more.”
Arthur’s hand stopped on the blanket.
Leo kept his eyes closed.
“She said grown-ups choose their wives because kids grow up and leave.”
Arthur stared at him.
“She said if I kept making trouble, you’d pick her.”
Arthur could not speak for several seconds.
Then he moved closer.
“Look at me.”
Leo opened his eyes.
Arthur’s voice shook.
“I made mistakes.”
Leo watched him.
“A lot of them.”
Arthur swallowed.
“But you never had to compete with her.”
Leo said nothing.
“And you never had to earn your place with me.”
The child’s face tightened.
Arthur resisted the urge to make the sentence prettier.
“You’re my son.”
Leo looked down at the blanket.
“I know.”
Arthur touched his hair.
“Did you?”
Leo did not answer.
That silence became the worst answer Arthur had received all night.
He stayed beside him until Leo slept again.
Then Arthur went downstairs.
Detective Collins was waiting in the foyer.
She held a clear evidence bag.
Inside it was Leo’s tablet.
Arthur stopped halfway across the marble floor.
Collins looked at him.
“We got access.”
His heart began pounding.
“The messages?”
“They existed.”
Arthur stared at the bag.
Collins continued.
“They were deleted from the device.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“But?”
“But the account records show repeated outgoing messages to your number.”
“How many?”
Collins looked at him carefully.
“Thirty-four.”
Arthur’s face went still.
“Over what period?”
“Just under five months.”
He closed his eyes.
“What did they say?”
“We’re still recovering content.”
Arthur opened them.
“Still?”
“We have partial data.”
“What does that mean?”
Collins hesitated.
“It means enough survived to show that several messages asked you to come home.”
Arthur stared at her.
“And I never got them.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Collins raised the evidence bag slightly.
“Because the messages were being deleted before delivery synchronization completed.”
Arthur frowned.
“By Leo?”
“That’s one possibility.”
He looked toward the staircase.
“No.”
Collins’s expression did not change.
“There’s another.”
Arthur turned back.
She spoke carefully.
“The tablet logs show repeated access from an adult profile.”
Arthur’s voice dropped.
“Victoria.”
“We have not established who physically used the profile.”
“But it was hers.”
“The profile was created under her name.”
Arthur stared at the tablet.
Collins continued.
“There’s something else.”
He almost told her to stop.
Instead he asked, “What?”
“One of the recovered messages wasn’t addressed to you.”
Arthur’s hands slowly closed.
“Who was it addressed to?”
Collins looked toward the upper floor before answering.
“Elena.”
Arthur stared at Collins as though she had spoken in another language.
“Elena?”
“Yes.”
“What did it say?”
“We only recovered part of it.”
“Read me the part.”
Collins hesitated.
“Arthur.”
“Please.”
She lowered the evidence bag.
“The surviving text says, ‘Can you tell Dad I’m not bad.’”
Arthur looked away.
The foyer blurred for a second.
Collins continued more quietly.
“There may have been additional words before or after that.”
“When was it sent?”
“Eleven days ago.”
Arthur pressed one hand against the banister.
“Did Elena get it?”
“We don’t know.”
“She never mentioned it.”
“That doesn’t mean she saw it.”
Arthur’s thoughts moved too quickly.
Victoria had controlled the tablet.
May you like
Leo had tried to contact him.
At some point he had tried Elena instead.
