Chương 7
“That’s it.”
Vanessa raised her voice.
“Claire didn’t hire them directly.”
Ethan appeared at the top of the stairs supported by a paramedic.
He had heard her.
His expression darkened.
“Shut up, Vanessa.”
The entire lower floor seemed to still.
Daniel looked between them.
Vanessa gave a small, bitter smile.
“There he is.”
The officer near Ethan said, “Nobody talks.”
Ethan started down carefully.
“You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”
“You never did.”
Vanessa’s smile vanished.
Daniel felt Sophie trembling against him.
He scooped her into his arms.
“That’s enough.”
His voice cut through both of them.
“My daughter is standing here.”
Ethan looked ashamed.
Vanessa looked away.
Daniel carried Sophie toward the front door.
As he passed the kitchen, he noticed a mug on the counter.
His mug.
Coffee still sat in the bottom.
He had poured it before the call that kept him downstairs.
The surface had developed a thin brown film.
He could not stop looking at it.
Twenty minutes earlier he had been annoyed because a client wanted revisions before Monday.
That man’s urgency now seemed obscene.
Daniel pushed the front door open.
Warm night air met them.
Neighbors stood on porches and sidewalks.
A woman two houses down pretended to check her mailbox while staring openly at the police cars.
A teenage boy held a phone at chest height.
Daniel turned Sophie’s face into his shoulder.
An officer noticed the boy.
“Put the phone away.”
The boy lowered it but did not go inside.
The paramedic opened the ambulance doors.
Daniel climbed in with Sophie.
She sat on the stretcher while the medic wrapped a soft cold pack around one wrist.
“Too cold?”
Sophie nodded.
The medic loosened it.
“Better?”
“A little.”
Daniel sat beside her.
For thirty seconds, nobody asked him anything.
It felt like the first silence of the evening that did not contain a threat.
Sophie looked at the cabinets lining the ambulance walls.
“Do they have Band-Aids?”
“Probably.”
“With pictures?”
The paramedic smiled.
“I’ve got dinosaurs.”
Sophie considered this seriously.
“Any cats?”
“I might have one cat.”
Sophie nodded.
“One cat is okay.”
Daniel almost laughed.
The sound caught somewhere in his throat.
The paramedic found a small adhesive bandage printed with gray kittens and placed it over a tiny abrasion near Sophie’s wrist.
The injury barely required one.
Neither adult mentioned that.
Sophie inspected it.
“Mommy liked cats.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Yes.”
“She said dogs smell like feet.”
“That was unfair to dogs.”
Sophie gave the smallest smile.
Then it disappeared.
“Is Vanessa going to jail?”
Daniel took a second before answering.
“I don’t know.”
“She hurt me.”
“I know.”
“People go to jail when they hurt kids.”
“Sometimes.”
Her brow furrowed.
“That’s a bad rule.”
Daniel looked at the paramedic.
The woman pretended to be interested in a drawer.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Sometimes the rules are bad.”
Sophie leaned against him.
Outside, a detective approached the ambulance.
She was a compact woman in plain clothes with her hair tied back and a badge clipped to her belt.
She waited at the open doors rather than climbing in.
“Daniel Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Detective Lena Ortiz.”
Daniel shifted so Sophie remained partly shielded behind him.
Ortiz noticed and kept her distance.
“I need to speak with you, but not here in front of your daughter unless necessary.”
“She’s going to the hospital.”
“I heard.”
“Am I going with her?”
“Yes.”
That answer relieved him more than he expected.
Ortiz looked toward the house.
“We’ll have an officer meet you there.”
“What about the memory card?”
“It’s being secured.”
“Has anyone looked at it?”
“Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because evidence gets handled correctly or defense attorneys spend the next two years explaining why it shouldn’t count.”
Daniel did not like the answer.
He respected it.
“Ethan says it might show what happened to my wife.”
“I heard.”
“He also says Vanessa knows who killed her.”
“I heard that too.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“My wife’s death was ruled accidental.”
Ortiz nodded.
“I know the basic case.”
“Are you reopening it?”
“I’m not making that decision standing beside an ambulance.”
Daniel looked away.
The answer frustrated him precisely because it sounded reasonable.
Ortiz added, “But what happened in your house tonight is enough for us to take the claims seriously.”
Daniel looked at her again.
“What happened to Ethan?”
“We’re still determining that.”
“He says he was locked inside.”
“He was restrained inside a concealed room.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“Not always.”
Daniel frowned.
Ortiz continued.
“Who owns this house?”
“I do.”
“Only you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know that room existed?”
“No.”
“Did your wife?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Vanessa live here?”
Daniel hesitated.
“She’s been staying here.”
“How long?”
“Four months.”
Ortiz’s expression gave nothing away.
“Relationship?”
Sophie shifted beside him.
Daniel looked at her before answering.
“Vanessa and I were seeing each other.”
The past tense came naturally.
Ortiz caught it.
“How serious?”
Daniel felt irritation rise.
Then he forced it down.
“Serious enough that she had a key.”
“Access to the whole house?”
“Yes.”
“Alarm code?”
“Yes.”
“Garage?”
“Yes.”
“Your finances?”
“No.”
“Your wife’s files?”
Daniel paused.
“I don’t know.”
Ortiz let the silence sit.
Daniel disliked her for it.
He disliked himself more.
“Claire’s things are in the study and attic.”
“Locked?”
“No.”
“So potentially accessible.”
“Yes.”
Sophie whispered, “Daddy.”
He looked down.
She had begun picking at the edge of the cat bandage.
“Don’t peel that yet.”
“It’s itchy.”
The paramedic replaced it with a plain one.
Sophie seemed offended by the downgrade.
Ortiz waited until they were finished.
“Mr. Mercer, did Vanessa know Claire before Claire died?”
“Yes.”
“How well?”
“I thought casually.”
“Now?”
Daniel looked at the house.
“I have no idea.”
Ortiz nodded.
“That’s an acceptable answer.”
Something about the phrasing irritated him.
“I’m not trying to pass a test.”
“I know.”
“It feels like one.”
“It probably will for a while.”
May you like
Daniel stared at her.
Ortiz did not soften the statement.
