Chương 8
“Because Grandpa snores and I was checking if you could hear him.”
Her eyes closed again.
“I can.”
I glared at him.
He almost smiled.
The relief lasted maybe thirty seconds.
Then his phone buzzed.
A text from Natalie.
Please tell her I love her.
Mark read it.
He did not answer.
We returned to the kitchen.
He opened the message thread and scrolled backward.
Months of marriage passed beneath his thumb.
Can you get milk.
Don’t forget recital at six.
Running late.
Love you.
Call me.
Did Lily finish homework.
I watched him stop at a message from August.
Can you take the overnight shift Thursday?
Mark had replied two minutes later.
Probably.
Why?
Natalie’s answer had been simple.
Just easier for me.
He stared.
“That night.”
“What?”
“One of the ride-share charges.”
I pulled out a chair.
“Are you sure?”
He checked the date twice.
“Yes.”
The charge had posted shortly after ten.
His shift started at nine.
Mark scrolled farther.
There were similar conversations.
Not many.
Enough.
A request that he cover for someone.
A question about whether overtime was available.
One message from Natalie asking whether he could stay late after a regular shift because Lily had already fallen asleep.
Mark stopped there.
“She was arranging it.”
“Maybe.”
He looked at me sharply.
“Stop saying maybe.”
“We don’t know where she went.”
“She wanted me gone.”
“That part looks possible.”
“Possible?”
He shoved the phone across the table.
“What would convince you?”
“That she tells us.”
“She already told police she drugged Lily.”
“She said Lily needed it.”
“Exactly.”
“That tells us she gave her something.”
“It tells us enough.”
“For the drugging, yes.”
He stood.
“What are you defending?”
“I’m not defending her.”
“You keep making room for her.”
“Because I don’t know what’s in that room yet.”
He stared at me.
“I do.”
“No, you don’t.”
His chair scraped the floor when he shoved it backward.
“She drugged my kid so she could sneak out while I worked.”
“You know the first part.”
“And the second.”
“You know she left.”
“You think she was going to Bible study?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t know.”
He paced to the sink and back.
“What if she was seeing somebody?”
The question arrived with less anger than I expected.
It sounded almost childish.
I had no answer.
Mark pressed both hands to the counter.
“What if all of this is because she was cheating on me?”
“Then the cheating is the smallest part.”
He turned.
I regretted the sentence the instant I saw his face.
Not because it was wrong.
Because he had not yet reached the place where it could be true.
He sat again.
“She kept telling me we needed money.”
His voice softened.
“She said I should take every shift I could get.”
I said nothing.
“She’d complain I was never home.”
He rubbed at his wedding ring.
“Then she’d tell me to work more.”
“That doesn’t prove where she went.”
“No.”
He looked at the dark window above the sink.
“But it tells me something.”
At 12:14, my doorbell rang.
Both of us froze.
Mark stood first.
I checked the front window.
Karen Bell stood on the porch.
She wore pajama pants beneath a long wool coat and held her purse against her chest.
“What the hell is she doing here?”
Mark was already moving.
“Wait.”
He ignored me.
I opened the door before he could yank it open.
Karen looked smaller than usual.
Her gray hair had not been brushed, and her glasses sat crooked on her nose.
“I need to see Lily.”
“No.”
Mark’s voice came from behind me.
Karen flinched.
“Mark.”
“You don’t come here.”
“I didn’t know where else to go.”
“Go home.”
“Please.”
She looked at me.
“The police took my medication bottles.”
“That’s not why you’re here.”
“I need to explain.”
Mark laughed.
“Everybody suddenly needs to explain.”
Karen’s mouth tightened.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I should have told you the pills were missing.”
“Yes.”
“I thought Natalie was taking them.”
“Yes.”
“I thought she was ashamed.”
Mark stepped closer.
“And you helped her hide it.”
“I didn’t tell anyone.”
“That’s helping.”
Karen’s eyes filled.
“I was trying not to destroy her marriage.”
Mark’s face went still.
“You think this is what saved it?”
She looked down.
“No.”
From the hallway came a small sound.
We all turned.
Lily stood barefoot in the kitchen doorway, rubbing one eye.
“Grandma?”
Karen’s face collapsed.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
She moved instinctively.
Mark stepped between them.
The motion was not violent.
It was worse because it was deliberate.
Karen stopped.
Lily looked from one adult to another.
“Why is Grandma crying?”
Nobody answered quickly enough.
Lily frowned.
“Is Mom here too?”
“No,” Mark said.
Karen pressed her hand over her mouth.
Lily looked at her.
“Did Mom call you?”
Karen lowered her hand.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Earlier.”
“What did she say?”
Mark crouched.
“Bug, you should go back to bed.”
Lily ignored him.
“She said Grandma Karen knows where she goes.”
The porch seemed to disappear beneath my feet.
Mark stood slowly.
Karen’s face drained of color.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Lily looked confused by the question.
“She told me once.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did she tell you?”
Karen whispered, “Mark.”
He raised one hand without looking at her.
Lily wrapped her arms around herself.
“Mom said if I woke up and she wasn’t there, I shouldn’t call you.”
Mark’s voice dropped.
“Why?”
“Because you’d be mad.”
“At who?”
“She didn’t say.”
Lily looked at Karen.
“She said Grandma knew where she was if there was an emergency.”
Nobody moved.
Mark turned toward Karen.
Karen shook her head before he spoke.
“It isn’t what you think.”
“I haven’t told you what I think.”
“She wasn’t having an affair.”
The silence after that was complete.
Even Lily seemed to understand that Karen had answered a question nobody had asked.
May you like
Mark’s voice became very quiet.
“Then where was she going?”
