Chương 7
Who told you.
I felt something inside me settle.
“Your mother.”
He laughed once.
“She has no idea what happened.”
“Did you?”
“What?”
“Open accounts in Claire’s name?”
“This has nothing to do with anything.”
“That sounds like yes.”
“Bernice, you don’t know that woman.”
“I don’t need to.”
“You absolutely do.”
“Why?”
“Because she destroyed my relationship with my daughter.”
Nadine stopped moving.
Hanley looked at him.
I said, “Your daughter.”
His eyes closed briefly.
There was no recovering from the sentence.
“You told me you had no children before Roger.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“It’s complicated.”
“She’s fourteen.”
“Exactly.”
I almost smiled because the answer was so bizarre.
“Exactly what?”
“She was three when everything happened.”
“And that prevented you from mentioning her for eight years?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“You’re right.”
My voice remained strangely calm.
“I wouldn’t.”
He looked past me toward the front door.
“I want Roger home.”
“He’s safe.”
“He belongs here.”
“He was on the kitchen floor.”
“He fell asleep.”
“Because you left him waiting while you were with Celina.”
His mouth tightened.
“That was a mistake.”
I waited.
He added nothing.
“Which part?”
“Don’t.”
“Sleeping with my sister, leaving Roger downstairs, taking sixty thousand dollars, packing his belongings, hiding our passports, or lying about a daughter?”
Hanley lifted one hand.
“Mrs. Avery.”
I stopped.
Gideon stared at me.
“You checked the accounts.”
“Yes.”
His anger disappeared.
That scared me.
He became almost gentle.
“Bernice, you need to listen to me before you make this worse.”
“Make what worse?”
“The money isn’t what you think.”
“Then what is it?”
“I was protecting us.”
“From what?”
He hesitated.
That hesitation was enough to tell me the answer had not existed until I asked.
“Debt.”
“We incurred debt because you withdrew the money.”
“You don’t understand how the line works.”
“I understand sixty thousand dollars.”
“Not all of it is gone.”
“How much is left?”
He said nothing.
“Where is it?”
“I can explain privately.”
“No.”
“Bernice.”
“Where is the money?”
His eyes moved to Hanley again.
Then he said something that made even Nadine stop breathing for a second.
“Ask your sister.”
Gideon watched my face carefully, as if he had placed a piece on a board and was waiting to see whether I understood the game.
“I already asked Celina about the money.”
“Then ask her where the rest is.”
“She says you gave her eighteen thousand.”
“She got more than that.”
My mouth went dry.
“How much?”
He leaned against the wall.
“Twenty-seven.”
Nadine swore quietly.
I stared at him.
“Twenty-seven thousand dollars?”
“She needed help getting the salon open.”
“You gave my sister twenty-seven thousand dollars without telling me.”
“She was supposed to pay it back.”
“Based on what agreement?”
“We had an understanding.”
Officer Hanley shifted her notebook to her other hand.
I said, “Did the understanding happen before or after you started sleeping with her?”
Gideon’s jaw tightened.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want to talk in front of people.”
“No, you didn’t want witnesses.”
“Bernice.”
“Where is the other thirty-three thousand?”
“It wasn’t all one thing.”
“Then give me the list.”
“There were expenses.”
“What expenses?”
“House stuff.”
“Such as?”
He looked around as though the walls might volunteer.
“Repairs.”
“What repairs?”
“The furnace.”
“We replaced the furnace two years ago.”
“Maintenance.”
“For thirty-three thousand dollars?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then say something useful.”
He pushed away from the wall.
Officer Hanley immediately said, “Sir, stay where you are.”
He stopped.
The irritation on his face sharpened.
“I am in my own home.”
“And everyone here is going to keep this calm.”
He looked at me.
“You’ve made me look dangerous now.”
“I haven’t made you look anything.”
“You brought police to my house.”
“You hid my passport.”
“I did not hide your passport.”
“Then where is it?”
He looked away.
For the first time, I noticed a small scrape across the back of his right hand.
It was fresh.
“Were you moving things last night?”
His eyes came back to mine.
“What?”
“Your hand.”
He tucked it against his side.
“Garage.”
That answer was too quick.
I turned toward the attached garage.
“Bernice,” Hanley said.
“I want to see if my suitcase is there.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Gideon stepped forward.
“No.”
Hanley turned.
“That wasn’t a request directed at you.”
His face flushed.
I opened the garage door.
The smell of gasoline, dust, and hot rubber rolled into the hallway.
My SUV was gone because I had driven it to work, but Gideon’s usual parking space was empty too, since his car sat outside.
Against the far wall stood storage bins, a folded ladder, Roger’s old tricycle, and a gray moving blanket I did not remember seeing there.
The blanket covered something rectangular.
I walked toward it.
Gideon appeared in the doorway behind Hanley.
“Don’t start tearing apart the garage.”
I pulled the blanket away.
Two suitcases sat beneath it.
Mine.
Roger’s.
Nadine let out a low sound.
I unzipped Roger’s.
His missing clothes were inside.
So were his birth certificate, his passport, and a sealed envelope bearing Diane’s address.
My passport lay in my suitcase beside three sweaters, jeans, toiletries, and clothes I had not packed.
For several seconds, I could not understand why my belongings were there.
Then I picked up a blouse.
It was one I wore often enough that Gideon would know I liked it.
“You packed for me.”
He said nothing.
I looked at him.
“You packed my suitcase too.”
“I can explain.”
“Please do.”
His throat moved.
“We were all supposed to leave.”
The answer changed the room.
Even Hanley looked at him differently.
“All of us?”
I asked.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“My mother’s.”
“Why?”
“Because we needed space.”
“You told Roger I wasn’t coming.”
“He misunderstood.”
“He understood enough to pack his own toothbrush.”
“He’s five.”
“Yes.”
“Which is why you shouldn’t be interrogating him.”
May you like
The word made something hot flash through me.
“I asked my son why he slept on a floor.”
