Chương 10
Officer Ruiz continued.
“We can document your objection.”
Audrey laughed once.
Her lip hurt.
“Wonderful.”
After the call ended, Thomas said, “This is insane.”
Mara looked at Audrey.
“Do you want to go to the precinct?”
“Yes.”
“You do not have to.”
“Yes, I do.”
Mara studied her.
“All right.”
Audrey stood.
The room shifted slightly.
She grabbed the table.
Thomas moved toward her.
She raised one hand.
“I’m fine.”
“You almost fell.”
“I stood too fast.”
Mara picked up a bottle of water and handed it over.
“Drink.”
Audrey took it without arguing.
That seemed to satisfy everyone.
The central precinct occupied a squat brick building near the courthouse.
Audrey had passed it hundreds of times.
She had never imagined walking inside with bruises on her face and a grocery sack containing makeup offered by her husband to conceal them.
The waiting area smelled faintly of floor cleaner and burnt coffee.
A television mounted in one corner played a daytime court show with the sound muted.
A little boy slept across three plastic chairs while a woman filled out paperwork beside him.
Thomas sat between Audrey and the vending machines.
Mara sat on Audrey’s other side.
Nobody spoke.
Audrey stared at the boy’s sneakers.
One lace was untied.
The ordinary detail lodged in her mind so completely that she wanted to wake him and fix it.
Officer Ruiz appeared after eleven minutes.
He was younger than Audrey had imagined from his voice.
Mid-thirties, perhaps.
Tired eyes.
A wedding ring.
He shook Mara’s hand first after she introduced herself.
Then he looked at Audrey’s face.
His expression did not change.
She appreciated that.
“We can talk in an interview room.”
Thomas started to stand.
Ruiz said, “Counsel can come.”
Thomas sat again.
Audrey touched his shoulder.
“You can wait here.”
He nodded.
The interview room was small enough that Audrey became conscious of every breath.
Ruiz sat across from her.
Another officer, a woman named Chen, joined them to take supplemental notes.
Ruiz began with the previous night.
Audrey described the argument.
Not dramatically.
She found herself becoming clinical.
Eleanor wanted them to move.
Audrey refused.
Julian became angry.
He slapped her.
She told him not to touch her.
He shoved her into the dresser.
She fell.
He kicked her once in the side.
Chen asked, “Once?”
Audrey stopped.
The question bothered her.
“I think once.”
“You’re not sure?”
“No.”
Audrey hated the uncertainty.
She closed her eyes.
There had been the dresser.
The carpet against her palm.
The sound of Julian breathing.
One impact in her ribs.
Then another sound.
Had that been his shoe against the dresser?
“I’m sure about one.”
Chen nodded.
“That’s fine.”
Audrey looked at her.
“It doesn’t feel fine.”
“I mean it’s fine to say what you know and what you don’t.”
The distinction settled something in Audrey.
She continued.
Ruiz asked about the makeup bag.
Audrey placed the grocery sack on the table.
“I haven’t touched the contents since this morning.”
Ruiz did not react dramatically.
He simply noted it.
Then Audrey played the cloud audio.
The room changed when Julian’s recorded voice came through the phone.
Get up.
Audrey stared at the tabletop.
She did not look at either officer.
When the recording ended, Chen asked about the security system.
Audrey explained the setup.
Ruiz asked whether Julian knew audio was still enabled.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you intentionally leave it on to record him?”
“No.”
“Do you routinely access the recordings?”
“No.”
Mara said, “We can provide account information and system details later.”
Ruiz nodded.
They moved to the deed.
Audrey showed the original document, then the recorded quitclaim.
Ruiz compared them.
He did not say what he thought.
Audrey showed her travel records.
Chen wrote down the dates.
Ruiz asked, “Could you have signed the deed before your trip and had it notarized later?”
“No.”
“Could you have signed it while traveling?”
“No.”
“Could you have authorized someone to sign for you?”
“No.”
“Did you ever tell your husband you intended to add him to title?”
“No.”
Audrey paused.
“Actually, once.”
Mara looked at her.
Ruiz waited.
Audrey remembered an argument from two years earlier.
Julian had complained that he was paying toward household expenses without building equity.
Audrey had told him they could discuss adding him after he finished paying off a private loan he had never fully explained.
They had never discussed it again.
“I said we could talk about it someday.”
“Did you agree?”
“No.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“No.”
Ruiz nodded.
The questions continued for nearly an hour.
By the end, Audrey’s side hurt badly enough that she had stopped caring how carefully she sat.
Mara asked for a break.
They stepped into the hallway.
Audrey leaned against the wall.
“I need coffee.”
“You need food.”
“I also need coffee.”
Mara pointed toward the vending alcove.
“Thomas bought something.”
They found him holding a paper cup and a plastic-wrapped turkey sandwich.
He handed both to Audrey.
The coffee smelled terrible.
She drank it anyway.
“How bad?”
Thomas asked.
“Which part?”
He accepted that.
Audrey peeled open the sandwich wrapper.
Her phone buzzed.
A new voicemail.
Julian.
She stared at his name.
Mara said, “You don’t have to listen now.”
Audrey pressed play.
Julian’s voice came through the speaker low and controlled.
“Audrey, I don’t know what you’re telling people, but you need to stop before you make this impossible to fix.”
Thomas’s hand tightened around his own coffee cup.
Julian continued.
“I love you.”
Audrey’s jaw clenched.
“You know I do.”
A pause.
“And I’m sorry about last night.”
Thomas looked away.
“But you scared me too.”
Mara’s eyes sharpened.
Julian’s voice softened further.
“You were screaming.”
Audrey had not been screaming.
“You threatened to ruin me.”
She had not said that either.
“You said you would take everything.”
Audrey stopped chewing.
May you like
Then came the sentence that changed the room.
“I only signed those papers because you told me to handle the house while you were in Denver.”
