Chương 5
He said he had no idea where the scar came from.
Ryan stopped rubbing when he noticed me looking.
“No.”
I had not said anything.
He stood.
“No.”
Denise glanced toward us.
I lowered my voice.
“What happened when you were a baby?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ask her.”
“I’m not calling her.”
“Then text her.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because whatever answer she gives is going to be garbage.”
“Then why are you afraid to ask?”
He stepped away from me.
His face had gone gray.
“I’m not afraid.”
The door opened behind him.
Officer Vega entered with another woman wearing plain clothes and a hospital identification badge.
The woman introduced herself as Tessa Monroe from the hospital’s child protection team.
Nobody sat down.
Officer Vega held a clear evidence bag.
Inside it was the missing strawberry sock.
For a ridiculous second, relief went through me.
Then I saw what else was sealed beside it.
A narrow strip of white cloth.
Not the kitchen towel from Sophie’s wrist.
This one was smaller and knotted at both ends.
Officer Vega looked at Ryan.
“Your mother was still at the house when officers arrived.”
Ryan said nothing.
“She gave consent for them to enter the guest room.”
I held the crib rail.
“What is that?”
Officer Vega raised the bag slightly.
“It was found behind the nightstand.”
“That wasn’t on Sophie when I found her.”
“We know.”
“Then what is it?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Ryan stared at the cloth.
Officer Vega continued.
“Your mother says it belongs to you.”
His head lifted.
“To me?”
“She says she brought it from her house this morning by accident.”
“What is it?”
“She called it a calming tie.”
Ryan’s face emptied.
Officer Vega watched him carefully.
“She also said your grandmother taught her how to use them when you were an infant.”
The monitor beside Sophie continued its soft electronic rhythm.
Ryan sat down again.
This time he missed the chair on his first attempt.
Officer Vega pulled the second chair away from the wall and set it near him without comment.
Ryan lowered himself into it and pressed his palms against his knees.
Tessa Monroe looked at me first, then at him.
“Do either of you know what she means by a calming tie?”
“No,” I said.
Ryan shook his head.
Officer Vega placed the evidence bag on the counter.
“Your mother described it as something used to keep an infant from startling themselves awake.”
“That’s called swaddling,” I said.
Tessa nodded.
“Swaddling uses a blanket and has safety guidance.”
“That thing has knots.”
“Yes.”
Ryan stared at the bag.
“My grandmother did that to me?”
Officer Vega did not answer immediately.
“Your mother says your grandmother taught her.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I know.”
He looked up.
“Did my mother do it to me?”
“She says she did.”
Ryan laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“She says it like it was normal?”
“Her position is that it was normal in her family.”
“Her position.”
He rubbed his wrist again.
“I hate that phrase.”
Officer Vega closed her notebook.
“It’s not my job to make her explanation sound reasonable.”
Ryan’s face tightened.
“Did you arrest her?”
“Not yet.”
I turned toward her.
“Why not?”
“Because we are still establishing what happened, what injuries Sophie has, how long she was restrained, and whether your mother’s account matches the physical evidence.”
“She admitted tying her down.”
“She admitted restraining her.”
“Those are the same thing.”
“I understand why you feel that way.”
“No, you don’t.”
The words came sharper than I intended.
Tessa shifted slightly but did not interrupt.
Officer Vega remained still.
“You’re standing here telling me the woman who tied my three-month-old baby to a mattress is free to walk around because you need a better verb.”
Ryan said my name quietly.
I turned on him.
“Don’t.”
“I wasn’t defending her.”
“Then don’t make me sound unreasonable.”
“I wasn’t.”
Officer Vega spoke before either of us could continue.
“She is not free to leave the scene right now.”
I looked back at her.
“Officers are still interviewing her.”
“Then say that.”
“I’m saying it now.”
My anger vanished almost as fast as it had arrived and left behind embarrassment.
I looked at the floor.
There was a dark scuff near my shoe shaped like half a moon.
“I’m sorry.”
Officer Vega tucked her notebook into her pocket.
“You don’t need to spend energy apologizing to me.”
That somehow made me feel worse.
Tessa stepped closer to the crib.
“When Sophie is medically stable, the hospital will complete a full child-abuse evaluation.”
Ryan flinched at the phrase.
She noticed.
“I know that language is hard.”
“It sounds like we did something.”
“It doesn’t mean that.”
“It feels like it.”
“It means the hospital has an obligation to look carefully when an infant is injured in circumstances involving restraint.”
He nodded without looking convinced.
I asked, “What does that involve?”
“Imaging, labs, documentation of any injuries, review of her medical history, and consultation with specialists depending on what they find.”
“Will you check the bruise?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell how old it is?”
“Sometimes we can estimate, but bruises don’t come with timestamps.”
Ryan looked at her.
“Could it have happened Tuesday?”
“It could have.”
“Could it have happened today?”
“That’s possible too.”
He leaned back.
“So we know nothing.”
“We know more than we did an hour ago.”
“That doesn’t feel like much.”
“No.”
Tessa did not soften the answer.
I liked her for that.
A respiratory therapist came in and adjusted one of Sophie’s tubes.
We all stepped back instinctively.
For several minutes the room belonged to the people keeping my daughter alive.
I watched numbers on a monitor because watching numbers felt easier than watching her face.
Ryan stared at the strawberry sock inside the evidence bag.
When the therapist left, he said, “My grandmother died when I was twelve.”
I looked at him.
May you like
He was still staring at the bag.
“She lived with us for a while when I was little.”
