Chương 14
Probably Arthur.
Probably one of his assistants.
I took out the grapes and started washing them.
Priya watched me.
“You’re stress-washing fruit.”
“I’m aware.”
Arthur leaned back in his chair.
“What does Diane have that you need?”
“Information about Mark.”
“Too broad.”
“Information about the payments.”
“Better.”
“The note.”
“Yes.”
“And whatever she was threatening to tell me six months ago.”
Arthur nodded.
“What can she reasonably want from you?”
“Money.”
Priya said it before I did.
I looked at her.
She shrugged.
“Sorry.”
“No, that’s probably right.”
Arthur added, “Protection.”
“From Mark?”
“Possibly.”
“Leniency?”
“Possibly.”
“A way to blame him for everything?”
“That would be my first guess.”
I dried the grapes with a dish towel.
The ordinary task made it easier to say the next sentence.
“She hit my daughter yesterday.”
Neither of them answered.
“I can listen to her without forgiving her.”
Arthur nodded once.
“Yes.”
I texted Diane.
Tomorrow morning.
Public place.
You come alone.
Her reply appeared almost immediately.
Not public.
I stared at it.
Then another came.
He has people watching me.
Priya gave a short laugh.
“Mark does not have people.”
“Maybe she means employees.”
“Employees barely answer his weekend emails.”
Arthur took the phone.
“Ask what location she considers safe.”
I did.
Diane sent an address.
Arthur looked it up.
“Senior living community.”
I frowned.
“She doesn’t live in senior living.”
Priya leaned toward the screen.
“That’s Westbrook.”
“You know it?”
“My aunt lives there.”
Arthur scrolled.
“Independent and assisted living.”
“Why would Diane choose that?”
I asked.
Priya’s face changed.
“Her sister.”
“What sister?”
“Mark mentioned an aunt once.”
I stared at her.
“Diane has a sister?”
“I think so.”
In twelve years of marriage, I had never met one.
Arthur looked at me.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“Interesting.”
“That word is starting to annoy me too.”
He handed the phone back.
I texted one final message.
Nine tomorrow.
Diane replied with a thumbs-up emoji.
It was so unlike her that I almost preferred the insults.
We ended the call with Daniel shortly after that.
Arthur instructed him to preserve his existing documents, write down a chronology while events were fresh, and speak to his own attorney before doing anything further.
Daniel looked relieved at the suggestion.
I understood why.
Once lawyers entered a disaster, responsibility became segmented into smaller rectangles.
Do this.
Do not do that.
Save this.
Do not delete anything.
It was not comfort, exactly.
It was structure.
Priya made pasta for dinner because she said she needed to do something with onions before they went bad.
Nobody had brought onions.
Apparently the lake house refrigerator contained those too.
Lily ate plain noodles with butter and refused the sauce because it had “green dots.”
Emma ate two bites and pushed her plate away.
“You need more than that.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Try.”
She gave me a look that was pure Mark.
For one irrational second, resentment flashed through me.
Then shame followed it.
Children borrowed faces from people who hurt you.
That was not their fault.
I sat beside her.
“Three more bites.”
“One.”
“Two.”
“One and a half.”
“That is not how bites work.”
“It is tonight.”
I let her win.
After dinner, Lily found an old jigsaw puzzle in a cabinet.
The box claimed a thousand pieces.
Half of them were probably missing.
We spread it across the living room floor anyway.
For almost forty minutes, nobody discussed fraud, police reports, forged signatures, or Diane.
Priya found three edge pieces.
Arthur found none.
He insisted the puzzle manufacturer had created an unfair distribution problem.
Emma told him he was bad at puzzles.
He said he was excellent at expensive disputes, which was a different skill.
Lily asked how expensive.
Arthur said, “Very.”
I told him to stop recruiting clients under ten.
Emma laughed.
The bruise on her cheek looked darker under the lamp.
Every time I saw it, the room changed again.
At eight, Arthur left.
He had arranged for a private security company to monitor the gate overnight.
I objected to the cost.
He reminded me the trust was paying.
That made me object more.
“My grandfather’s money is not supposed to make us live like fugitives.”
“No.”
“Then what is it supposed to do?”
“Give you choices.”
The answer stayed with me after he left.
Priya took the downstairs guest room.
The girls shared the room overlooking the lake.
I lay between them until Lily fell asleep.
Emma stayed awake.
Her breathing was too deliberate.
“You can talk.”
She stared at the ceiling.
“Are Dad and Grandma going to get arrested?”
“I don’t know.”
“You always say that.”
“Because I don’t.”
“Adults are supposed to know things.”
I turned my head toward her.
“Who told you that?”
“Everybody.”
“That was irresponsible.”
Her mouth moved like she almost smiled.
Then she touched her cheek.
“Will I have to tell a judge?”
“Maybe.”
“I don’t want to.”
“I know.”
“Will Dad be there?”
“I don’t know.”
She made an irritated sound.
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re right.”
I shifted onto one elbow.
“Here’s what I do know.”
She looked at me.
“You won’t have to handle any of this alone.”
Her eyes moved away.
“What if I say something wrong?”
“There isn’t a right way to describe what happened to you.”
“What if Dad gets mad?”
“That belongs to him.”
“What if he hates me?”
The question was so quiet I nearly missed it.
I sat up.
“Emma.”
She immediately looked embarrassed.
“I know it’s stupid.”
“It isn’t.”
“He looked sad outside.”
“I know.”
“He used to take me for donuts before soccer.”
“I know.”
“He helped me build my volcano.”
“I remember.”
“He’s not always bad.”
“No.”
She looked confused by my agreement.
I brushed hair away from her forehead.
“People can love you and still fail you.”
Her eyes filled.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“No.”
I swallowed.
“It doesn’t.”
She rolled toward the wall.
May you like
I stayed beside her until her breathing changed.
Back downstairs, Priya was sitting on the couch with a blanket around her shoulders and Diane’s voicemail playing quietly from my phone.
