Chương 7
“That was wrong.”
Claire stepped closer.
“You never did it again.”
“That doesn’t make it not happen.”
Evelyn said, “There were other incidents.”
I turned back.
“What incidents?”
She did not answer immediately.
That hesitation mattered.
“What incidents, Evelyn?”
“You grabbed Claire’s wrist.”
Claire frowned.
“When?”
“During an argument.”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“You told me he did.”
“I said he stopped me from walking away.”
“By grabbing you.”
Claire shook her head.
“He stood in front of the door.”
The distinction did not make me feel better.
I remembered that too.
Another night.
Another argument.
Another version of myself I preferred not to bring into daylight.
I had blocked the doorway because Claire would not finish talking.
At the time, I had considered it insisting.
Now, with Tessa listening, it looked exactly like what it had been.
Control.
Evelyn saw my face.
“That is why I filed.”
“And then what?” I asked.
“The court rejected it?”
“No.”
Claire looked sharply at her mother.
“What?”
Evelyn’s grip tightened around the box.
“You withdrew?”
“No.”
Claire stepped toward the door.
“What happened?”
Evelyn looked at Tessa.
I moved sideways, blocking her view.
“Tell us.”
“The petition was never decided.”
Claire’s face went blank.
“What does that mean?”
“It means your father intervened.”
Claire whispered, “Dad?”
Evelyn nodded.
“He convinced me not to pursue it.”
“How?”
“He threatened to tell the court things about me.”
For the first time since she arrived, Evelyn sounded less certain.
Claire moved even closer.
“What things?”
Her mother looked down at the box.
“That is what Roxane found.”
Silence gathered at the doorway.
I unhooked the security chain.
Claire grabbed my arm.
I looked at her.
“We need to see what she brought.”
Evelyn entered without triumph.
She placed the box on the dining table.
Up close, I could see that one corner had split.
Inside were hanging folders, envelopes, a leather notebook, and several bundles of photocopied records held together with old rubber bands.
Evelyn kept one hand on the lid.
“Before you start reading, you need to understand something.”
Claire stared at the box.
“No.”
Her mother blinked.
“No?”
“No more explanations before evidence.”
Evelyn’s jaw tightened.
Claire reached inside.
She took out the first folder.
Her own name was written across the tab in her father’s handwriting.
She opened it.
The first page was an old bank statement.
The next was a photocopy of a birth certificate.
Claire stopped breathing.
I leaned closer.
The child’s name was Roxane Mercier.
The father’s line was blank.
The mother’s name was not Evelyn.
Claire looked up.
Evelyn had gone very still.
“Who is Nadine Mercier?”
Evelyn sat down.
For once, she had no polished sentence ready.
“She was your father’s sister.”
Claire stared at her mother as though the room had tilted under her feet.
“My father’s sister?”
Evelyn nodded.
“She died when Roxane was very young.”
Claire looked back at the birth certificate.
“You told me Dad was an only child.”
“I told you what he asked me to tell you.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
“Why would he ask you to erase his own sister?”
Evelyn glanced at Tessa.
Claire noticed.
“Stop looking at her before you answer.”
Evelyn folded her hands in her lap.
“Nadine had problems.”
“What kind of problems?”
“Drugs.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“That is convenient.”
“It was not convenient for anyone.”
“What happened to her?”
“She disappeared for long stretches.”
“And Roxane?”
“She stayed with relatives sometimes.”
“What relatives?”
Evelyn looked at the birth certificate.
“Your father.”
The air went still again.
Claire sat down slowly.
“So he raised her.”
“For a while.”
“How long?”
“About eighteen months.”
“And I never knew?”
“You were four.”
Claire blinked.
I looked at Evelyn.
“You had another child living in your home for a year and a half and Claire doesn’t remember her?”
Evelyn’s expression tightened.
“She was not another child in my home.”
Claire looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Evelyn did not answer.
Claire stood again.
“What does that mean?”
“She lived mostly with your father’s parents.”
“Mostly?”
“Yes.”
“But sometimes with you.”
“Yes.”
“How old was Roxane?”
“Seven.”
Claire pressed a hand to the table.
“And I was four.”
“Yes.”
“So we knew each other.”
Evelyn looked down.
“For a time.”
Claire laughed once, softly and without humor.
“I have a sister I supposedly met as a child, and somehow nobody thought this might be relevant before I took a DNA test in March.”
Evelyn’s eyes flashed.
“She is not your sister.”
Claire stopped.
The words were so plain that even Tessa looked confused.
I picked up the birth certificate.
“Her mother was your husband’s sister.”
“Yes.”
“Then Roxane is Claire’s cousin.”
“Yes.”
Claire stared at Evelyn.
“But the DNA test.”
Evelyn leaned back.
“What exactly did Roxane show you?”
“A report.”
“From where?”
“A laboratory.”
“What laboratory?”
Claire’s mouth opened.
Then closed.
I looked at her.
“You never verified the company.”
“I verified the website.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“I know.”
Evelyn made a small sound through her nose.
Claire turned on her.
“Do not.”
“I said nothing.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Tessa had moved closer to the table.
She looked at the birth certificate as if names on paper had become dangerous.
“Is Roxane still family?”
Claire looked at her.
“Yes.”
Evelyn said, “Technically.”
Claire shot her a look.
Tessa frowned.
“Technically sounds rude.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Evelyn did not.
Claire crouched beside Tessa.
“She is family.”
“Then why did she say she was your sister?”
Claire’s face changed.
“That is what I need to find out.”
I took out the second phone.
“Maybe we start with the messages.”
Evelyn’s attention snapped toward it.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
“You do not know what she has been putting in Claire’s head.”
“I know what Claire has been replying.”
Evelyn stood.
“Gabriel.”
“Sit down.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
I heard my own tone and immediately hated it.
May you like
I lowered my voice.
“Please sit down.”
