Chương 4
“No.”
Arthur’s answer broke on the second word.
He cleared his throat.
“You are never in trouble for telling me something that scares you.”
Leo looked unconvinced.
Arthur resisted the urge to make promises he could not prove.
He had already failed to see enough.
Saying he would always protect him suddenly sounded obscene.
Instead he said, “I should have listened better.”
Leo frowned.
“You didn’t know.”
Arthur looked at him.
The child was trying to make him feel better.
That nearly destroyed him.
Downstairs, Elena sat at the breakfast table with a glass of water she had not touched.
The officer had moved the interview out of the foyer after a second police vehicle arrived and two more people entered the house.
One was a female detective in plain clothes.
The other carried a small equipment case and spent several minutes photographing the staircase.
Elena watched through the kitchen doorway.
Every shutter click made her shoulders tense.
The detective introduced herself as Mara Collins.
She was compact, gray threaded through her dark hair, with the patient manner of someone accustomed to waiting through lies.
She placed a small recorder on the table.
“I’m going to record this conversation if that’s all right.”
“Yes.”
“You understand you’re not under arrest.”
Elena almost smiled.
“I assumed.”
Collins gave her a brief look.
“People don’t always.”
Elena wrapped both hands around the glass.
The water trembled inside it.
Collins noticed but did not comment.
“Start wherever makes sense to you.”
Elena looked toward the doorway.
“The first thing I saw today?”
“The first thing that made you concerned.”
Elena’s fingers tightened.
“That wasn’t today.”
Collins leaned back slightly.
“Okay.”
Elena stared at the glass.
She began with the bruise near Leo’s elbow.
Then the scratch.
Then the nights Victoria insisted on putting him to bed even when Leo asked for Elena.
She told Collins about the laundry room conversation that morning.
She told her about the question Leo had asked.
Could a person get in trouble for telling the truth if the truth made his father sad?
Collins did not interrupt.
Elena’s voice became less steady when she described what happened after lunch.
Victoria had returned from a charity committee meeting shortly after two.
She was angry about something on her phone.
She drank half a glass of wine in the kitchen and left the rest beside the sink.
At three fifteen, Elena heard raised voices from the upstairs corridor.
When she went to check, Victoria was standing outside Arthur’s study and Leo was inside.
“What were they arguing about?” Collins asked.
“I couldn’t hear everything.”
“What could you hear?”
Elena swallowed.
“Victoria said, ‘You don’t get to threaten me.’”
Collins’s pen stopped.
“And Leo?”
“He said, ‘I’m going to tell Dad.’”
The detective’s eyes lifted.
“What happened next?”
Elena looked toward the ceiling.
“Victoria saw me.”
“And?”
“She smiled.”
Collins waited.
Elena’s stomach twisted at the memory.
“Then she asked whether dinner reservations had been confirmed.”
The detective’s expression barely changed.
“That’s when you called Mr. Mercer?”
“No.”
Elena rubbed her thumb across the condensation on the glass.
“That’s when I started thinking I should.”
“Why didn’t you?”
The question was not accusatory.
It still hurt.
Elena looked away.
“Because I was afraid I was wrong.”
Collins said nothing.
“Because this is my job.”
Still nothing.
“Because Mrs. Mercer has fired people for less.”
“What do you mean?”
“She doesn’t like being challenged.”
“Has she threatened your employment?”
Elena hesitated.
“Not directly.”
“Indirectly?”
Elena gave a tired little laugh.
“She once told me there were a thousand women in this city who would be grateful for my salary.”
Collins wrote something.
“She said it after I told her Leo had a fever and shouldn’t go to a fundraiser.”
“What happened?”
“He went.”
“Was Mr. Mercer involved?”
“No.”
“He didn’t know?”
Elena’s mouth tightened.
“I don’t know what he knew.”
That answer stayed in the room.
Collins turned one page in her notebook.
“What changed today?”
Elena saw Leo sliding down the stairs again.
His hand striking marble.
The red line around his arm.
“I stopped being afraid of being wrong.”
Collins looked at her for several seconds.
“And what were you afraid of instead?”
Elena’s eyes filled before she could stop them.
She blinked hard.
“That I was right.”
Collins let the silence remain long enough for Elena to wipe beneath one eye with the side of her thumb.
“Did Mrs. Mercer ever strike him in front of you?”
“No.”
“Did Leo ever tell you she struck him?”
“No.”
“Did he tell you she hurt him?”
Elena looked down.
“Not in those words.”
“What words did he use?”
“He said she squeezed too hard.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Where?”
“His bathroom.”
“What were you doing there?”
“Putting away towels.”
Collins waited.
Elena could hear someone upstairs walking slowly across the hall.
“He was brushing his teeth,” Elena continued.
“He had a mark on his wrist.”
“What did he say happened?”
“He said Victoria was angry because he spilled juice on her dress.”
“Did you photograph the mark?”
“No.”
“Tell anyone?”
“No.”
The answer came quietly.
Collins did not react, which somehow made Elena feel worse.
“I asked him if he wanted me to get his father.”
“And?”
“He said no.”
“Why?”
“He said his dad was busy.”
Elena’s voice lowered.
“He always says his dad is busy.”
Collins closed the notebook halfway.
“Mrs. Alvarez, I need you to understand something.”
Elena looked up.
“You’re not responsible for investigating this family.”
“I live in this house more hours than I live in my own.”
“That’s not what I said.”
Elena’s jaw tightened.
Collins leaned forward.
“You had suspicions.”
“Yes.”
“You also had incomplete information, an employer with authority over you, and a child who was afraid to speak plainly.”
Elena stared at her.
“I still should’ve done something sooner.”
“Maybe.”
The word surprised her.
Collins did not soften it.
“Maybe you should have.”
May you like
Elena swallowed.
“But that doesn’t change what you did today.”
