Chương 11
"I want you to find her."
"So do I."
His voice rose for the first time.
"But if we destroy a case doing it wrong, you will hate us for that too."
Silence followed.
Monroe looked at neither of us.
I sat again.
"You're right."
Martinez exhaled.
"I know that doesn't help."
"No."
"It still matters."
The door opened a second time.
This time Chris stood there.
His face looked wrong.
"What happened?"
I was already moving.
"Emily wants you."
I pushed past him.
She was sitting in the advocate's room with her drawing torn in half.
The advocate, a woman named Renee, sat several feet away.
Nobody was touching Emily.
That frightened me.
I crouched in front of her.
"Hey."
She looked at me.
"Are they going to arrest Mom?"
"What?"
"Uncle Chris said the police found her blood."
Chris swore softly behind me.
I turned on him.
"You told her?"
"No."
"I heard him talking."
Emily's voice cut between us.
"He was in the hallway."
Chris looked sick.
"I was talking to Mom."
"Your mother?"
"She called."
I stood.
"You called Mom from here?"
"She called me."
"Why did you answer?"
He stared at me.
"Because she's our mother, Mark."
The argument was stupid and immediate and exactly the kind of thing families did while something terrible happened nearby.
Renee stepped between us verbally before either of us could make it worse.
"Emily heard one phrase."
She looked at me.
"She filled in the rest."
I crouched again.
"No one is arresting your mom."
"Then why is her blood in the car?"
I felt Chris behind me go still.
Renee looked at me.
I could lie badly.
Or answer carefully.
"The police found blood that might be hers."
Emily's face changed.
Not tears.
Calculation.
"Jason's car?"
"Yes."
She pulled the blanket tighter around her lap even though she wasn't cold.
"He hit her."
Renee leaned forward slightly.
"When?"
Emily looked at her instead of me.
"The night before Dad came."
Every sound in the room seemed to vanish.
"Can you tell me what you mean by hit?"
Renee asked.
Emily touched the side of her own head.
"With the metal thing."
My stomach lurched.
"What metal thing?"
Renee asked.
"The thing from the fireplace."
"A poker?"
"I don't know."
Renee's voice stayed even.
"Long and black?"
Emily nodded.
"Where were you when that happened?"
"In the kitchen."
"Where was your mom?"
"By the back door."
"What happened right before?"
Emily's breathing changed.
Renee noticed.
"We can stop."
"No."
Emily rubbed both palms on her borrowed sweatpants.
"Mom had the orange folder."
I sat motionless.
"She said she was leaving."
Renee nodded once.
"And Jason?"
"He blocked the door."
"Did he say anything?"
"He said she wasn't taking his insurance policy."
I looked at Renee.
She did not react.
"What insurance policy?"
Renee asked.
Emily frowned.
"I don't know."
"That's okay."
"He wanted the folder."
"Did your mom give it to him?"
"No."
"What happened?"
"She threw it."
"Where?"
"At me."
My chest tightened.
"At you?"
"Not like to hit me."
Emily looked at me as if I were being stupid.
"She wanted me to catch it."
"Did you?"
"Yeah."
"What did she say?"
Emily's mouth trembled.
"Run."
I closed my eyes.
Renee continued gently.
"Where did you go?"
"Outside."
"With the folder?"
"Yes."
"Then what?"
"Jason came after me."
"Did your mom come too?"
"No."
Emily's hands curled into fists.
"I heard her yell."
She touched the side of her head again.
"Then I heard the metal sound."
I could not breathe properly.
Renee glanced at me, warning without words.
"What did you do?"
she asked.
"I hid."
"Where?"
"By the pool equipment."
"Did Jason find you?"
"Not right away."
"Did you still have the folder?"
Emily nodded.
"What happened to it?"
She looked at me.
"I put it where Mom said."
Every adult in the room went still.
"Where did she tell you to put it?"
Renee asked.
Emily's eyes moved toward the door.
"In Dad's old place."
I frowned.
"My old place?"
"The shed."
I stared at her.
Sarah's backyard had a narrow wooden storage shed beside the fence.
When we were married, I kept tools there.
After the divorce, Jason had cleared most of my things out.
"Inside the shed?"
"No."
"Emily."
Renee's tone softened.
"Tell me only what you remember."
Emily nodded.
"There's a board under the window."
I knew it immediately.
One of the lower cedar boards had warped years ago.
I had once hidden a spare house key behind it.
Sarah knew.
Emily had apparently known too.
"You put the folder behind the board?"
"Yes."
"Did Jason see you?"
"No."
"What happened after?"
"He found me by the pool."
Her breathing grew shallow.
"He kept asking where it was."
Renee asked, "Did you tell him?"
Emily shook her head.
"He said Mom would get hurt if I lied."
She swallowed.
"I told him I dropped it in the pool."
The black bags.
The murky water.
Jason had not been randomly destroying evidence.
He had been searching for the folder and trying to make the pool unusable while perhaps believing the thing he needed was already in it.
I stood.
"Martinez."
Renee raised one hand.
"Do not move yet."
"I need to tell him."
"It's at the house."
"I heard her."
"Then go."
Renee's eyes sharpened.
"Your daughter just told us she witnessed violence and then protected evidence while being threatened."
Her voice stayed quiet.
"Do not turn her into a delivery system because you are in a hurry."
That stopped me.
I sat back down.
Emily looked at me.
"Is Mom dead?"
The question returned, worse this time.
I wanted to say no.
I wanted to say impossible.
I wanted to give her one clean thing.
Instead, I reached for her hand.
"I don't know."
She squeezed my fingers.
"She told me not to tell Jason."
"You did exactly what she asked."
Emily's face folded.
May you like
The first real sob escaped her.
"I lied to him."
