Chương 9
"The basement."
Daniel looked at her.
"What?"
"I heard something fall last night."
They went back inside.
The officer remained at the doorway.
Margaret descended first and switched on the basement light.
She looked along the floor near the bottom step.
Nothing.
Daniel crouched.
"Where exactly?"
"I was upstairs."
"So you don't know."
"No."
He ran his hand beneath the edge of the rug.
A moment later metal scraped against concrete.
Daniel pulled out the key ring.
"There."
Margaret exhaled.
Daniel stood.
Something else remained beneath the rug.
A small black rectangle.
He reached down and picked it up.
It was not his.
Margaret saw that immediately.
Daniel turned it over in his hand.
A tiny indicator light blinked once.
"What is that?" Margaret asked.
Daniel's face went pale.
He looked toward the stairs.
Then back at the device.
"I think it's a recorder."
Daniel held the device between two fingers as though touching it more firmly might make it dangerous.
Margaret stepped closer.
The black casing was no larger than a matchbox, with a narrow slot along one side and a tiny pinhole near the top.
"Don't press anything," she said.
Daniel gave her a look.
"I wasn't planning to."
"Then why are you holding it?"
"Because it was under the rug."
Margaret glanced toward the stairs.
The officer was still visible at the kitchen doorway above, one shoulder against the frame.
"Officer?"
He came down three steps and stopped.
Daniel held the device up.
"We found this under the rug."
The officer did not take it.
"What is it?"
"I think a recorder."
"Do you know who it belongs to?"
Daniel shook his head.
Margaret said, "Vanessa."
Daniel turned sharply.
"You don't know that."
"Who else would hide a recorder under my basement rug?"
"You don't know it was hidden."
Margaret stared at him.
"It crawled there?"
The officer raised one hand slightly.
"Let's slow down."
Margaret almost told him nobody had been moving quickly.
She caught herself.
The officer looked at Daniel.
"Was this residence shared by you and your girlfriend?"
"Yeah."
"Did she have access to the basement?"
"Obviously."
"Could it be some other electronic device?"
Daniel turned it over again.
"There might be a brand name."
The officer said, "Set it on a flat surface for now."
Daniel placed it on the basement bar.
Margaret stepped back from it instinctively.
The officer leaned close without touching.
"I can't identify that with certainty."
Daniel took out his phone.
"Can I take a picture?"
"You can take a picture of property you found in your residence."
Margaret almost corrected him.
Her residence.
The words stayed behind her teeth.
Daniel photographed both sides.
The tiny light blinked again.
Margaret felt watched despite knowing the thing could not see her.
"Is it recording us now?"
The officer straightened.
"Possibly."
Daniel's expression hardened.
He picked up a folded dish towel from Vanessa's box and covered the device.
Margaret looked at him.
"That won't stop sound."
"I know."
"Then why did you do it?"
"I don't know, Mom."
The answer came out sharper than intended.
Daniel dragged both hands through his hair beneath the cap.
"I don't know."
Margaret let the silence stand.
The officer looked at his watch, then at Daniel.
"If you believe this device contains evidence relevant to a dispute, don't alter or erase it."
Daniel nodded.
"Can police take it?"
"Not automatically."
"Why not?"
"Because at the moment we don't know what it is, who owns it, or what's on it."
Margaret frowned.
"Even if it was hidden in my house?"
The officer looked at her.
"That may matter, but I can't make a legal determination standing in your basement."
Margaret disliked the answer because it was sensible.
"What should I do with it?"
"If you're concerned, photograph where it was found, preserve it, and speak with your attorney."
Margaret sighed.
"Another attorney conversation."
Daniel glanced at her.
"Welcome to my week."
She looked back at him.
"I've had more than one week."
"Yeah."
His voice softened.
"I know."
The officer returned upstairs to finish clearing the scene.
Daniel remained beside the bar.
The towel-covered recorder sat between them.
Margaret crouched and lifted the edge of the rug.
Dust had gathered in a crescent where the device had been.
There was also a faint rectangular impression in the carpet pad.
"This wasn't dropped," she said.
Daniel looked down.
"How can you tell?"
"It was sitting here."
"That doesn't prove who put it there."
"No."
Margaret lowered the rug.
"How long has it been there?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I don't know."
Margaret looked around the basement.
The sectional.
The blank wall.
The television.
The bookshelf Daniel had built badly enough that Paul spent an entire Saturday secretly reinforcing it while insisting he was only dusting.
This room had held football games, Christmas wrapping, arguments, Sunday naps, and two years of Margaret pretending she could not hear Daniel and Vanessa fighting after midnight.
The idea that some of those moments might exist as audio on a device made her skin crawl.
Daniel uncovered the recorder again.
"Vanessa said she had a recording from your kitchen."
Margaret nodded.
"So there might be more than one."
His face tightened.
"What exactly happened that night before the mug?"
Margaret stared at him.
"You were there."
"I was in the hallway for part of it."
"You heard us."
"I heard yelling."
"She was yelling."
Daniel exhaled.
"Mom."
"What?"
"You were yelling too."
Margaret opened her mouth.
Then she closed it.
Her memory of the argument had polished itself during the last month.
Vanessa shouting.
Margaret trying to stay calm.
The mug flying.
Blood.
The hospital.
Daniel defending Vanessa.
Every retelling had made the lines cleaner.
Now she remembered something less flattering.
Her own voice rising when Vanessa called her controlling.
Margaret saying, "Then get out of my house."
Vanessa laughing.
Margaret saying it again, louder.
Daniel stepping into the hall.
Vanessa saying something about Paul.
May you like
Margaret's hand slamming against the countertop.
The memory stopped there.
