Chương 4
“You helped her.”
Silence.
Ruiz shook his head sharply.
I had already made the mistake.
Madison’s voice changed.
“You don’t know anything.”
“Then tell me.”
“You always do that.”
“Do what?”
“Decide first.”
I closed my eyes.
This was familiar terrain.
Every argument with Madison eventually reached the same old room.
I was judgmental.
She was misunderstood.
I was favored.
She was blamed.
Some of it had even been true.
“Okay,” I said.
The word surprised both of us.
“What?”
“I said okay.”
“Okay what?”
“Tell me what I don’t know.”
Traffic hissed through the speaker.
Then Madison said, “Mom told me Ava was stealing from her.”
“What was she doing there?”
“I didn’t know at first.”
“At first?”
“Stop jumping on every word.”
I forced myself not to respond.
Ruiz watched me closely.
Madison continued.
“She said Ava belonged to somebody she was helping.”
“Belonged?”
“That’s how Mom talked.”
“Who was she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“See?”
Her voice rose.
“This is why nobody tells you anything.”
Ava coughed again.
“Madison, she needs a doctor.”
“I know.”
“Then bring her here.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Mom says they’ll blame me.”
I looked through the glass wall toward the corridor where our mother was being held.
Even now, separated from Madison by police, my mother’s voice was still operating inside her.
“What do you think?”
Madison did not answer.
“I’m asking you.”
“I think I messed up.”
It was the first thing she had said that sounded like herself.
Not defensive Madison.
Not cruel Madison.
My little sister at nineteen after backing our father’s car into the mailbox and sitting on the curb crying because she thought he would stop loving her.
“How badly?”
Her breath caught.
“Really badly.”
Ruiz wrote something on his legal pad and turned it toward me.
KEEP HER TALKING.
“Then let me help.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You hate me.”
“I hate what happened to Noah.”
“That’s not the same answer.”
“No.”
Another silence.
I could hear a turn signal clicking on her end.
“Where are you going?”
“No.”
“I’m not trying to trap you.”
“That’s exactly what you’re trying to do.”
“You sent me a location.”
“Because I wanted you to come.”
“Why?”
Her answer was almost too quiet to hear.
“Because Ava only trusts Noah, and Noah trusts you.”
My eyes filled.
“What happened last night?”
Madison inhaled shakily.
“Mom found him in the shed.”
The room seemed to narrow.
“She hit him?”
“I tried to stop her.”
Ruiz’s expression changed slightly.
“Did you?”
“I grabbed her.”
“Then how did Noah get those injuries?”
“I said I tried.”
There were tears in Madison’s voice now, but I had spent too many years confusing tears with truth.
“What did you do?”
“I locked the door.”
My stomach dropped.
“What door?”
“The shed.”
Ruiz stopped writing.
Madison began speaking faster.
“Mom was screaming, Noah was screaming, Ava was trying to get out, and I just wanted everybody to shut up for one second.”
“You locked Noah inside?”
“I didn’t know Mom was going to—”
She broke off.
My mouth went dry.
“Going to what?”
“Emily, I swear to God, I didn’t know.”
“What did she do?”
The line went quiet except for road noise.
Then Ava’s voice appeared faintly in the background.
“Maddie.”
Madison whispered something away from the phone.
Ava answered, “I can’t breathe.”
I stood so quickly the chair struck the wall.
“She needs an ambulance.”
“I’m taking her somewhere.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I can’t go to a hospital.”
“This is not about you.”
“I know that.”
“Then prove it.”
The words came out harsher than I intended.
Madison went silent.
Ruiz gave me a warning look, but I was finished pretending the only way to save my sister was to protect her from consequences.
“You left Noah unconscious.”
“I panicked.”
“You ran from police.”
“Because Mom said—”
“Stop telling me what Mom said.”
My voice cracked.
“She has been telling us what to think our entire lives.”
Madison began crying.
I did not soften.
“What do you think, Madison?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You have Ava in your car.”
“I know.”
“She cannot breathe.”
“I know.”
“So choose.”
Ruiz stared at me.
I could hear my own heartbeat.
For once, I was not interested in winning an argument with my sister.
I was interested in whether a little girl survived it.
Madison sniffed.
“Choose what?”
“Whether you’re still doing what Mom tells you or whether you’re taking Ava somewhere she can stay alive.”
The turn signal stopped clicking.
For several seconds there was only the sound of the car moving.
Then Madison whispered, “There’s an emergency clinic off Hampton.”
Ruiz shook his head and wrote HOSPITAL on the pad.
“Not a clinic,” I said.
“Go to Methodist.”
“There’ll be cops.”
“Yes.”
“They’ll arrest me.”
“Maybe.”
“You could at least pretend they won’t.”
“I’m done lying to you.”
She gave a strange, wet laugh.
“You always were terrible at comfort.”
“Drive.”
The line stayed open.
For the next eleven minutes, neither of us said anything useful.
Madison cursed at traffic.
Ava coughed.
I heard a horn.
Ruiz quietly relayed their likely route to officers but ordered them to avoid an aggressive stop unless the car changed direction.
I sat beside Noah and held his hand while listening to my sister drive another injured child toward the consequences she had spent her life avoiding.
Then Madison said, “Emily.”
“I’m here.”
“Mom didn’t take Ava.”
Ruiz looked up.
I straightened.
“What?”
“She didn’t bring her to the house.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“You’ve seen him?”
“Twice.”
“When?”
“The last time was yesterday morning.”
My pulse quickened.
“What did he want?”
“He wanted Ava back.”
“Why didn’t your mother give her to him?”
Madison’s voice lowered.
“Because she said he still owed her money.”
Even Ruiz looked stunned.
May you like
A cold, unfamiliar understanding moved through me.
This was no longer a family secret that had become violent.
