Chương 13
“I’m here.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Claire told me.”
Marjorie gave me an offended look.
“You didn’t.”
I blinked.
“She heard your voice earlier.”
Reyes said, “I recognized you.”
Marjorie looked even less comfortable.
After the call ended, Beth checked every lock.
Lucas checked them again.
I hated that I let him.
Marjorie remained at the kitchen table with her hands wrapped around cold coffee.
“You should go home,” I told her.
She looked toward the dark windows.
“Do you want me to?”
“No.”
“Then I’m staying.”
Lucas leaned against the refrigerator.
“What about Ron?”
“He’s at his brother’s.”
“Does Grandma know?”
“Probably.”
“Great.”
“Lucas.”
“What?”
“Stop interrogating everyone.”
“She might know where Grandma is.”
“I don’t.”
Marjorie’s voice shook.
He looked ashamed.
“Sorry.”
She nodded.
“I deserve some of it.”
“No,” I said.
She looked at me.
“You deserve responsibility for what you did.”
I glanced toward the phone.
“You don’t deserve every terrible thing we’re imagining.”
Marjorie stared at the table.
“That’s kinder than I’ve been to myself.”
“It wasn’t meant to be kind.”
That almost made her smile.
At nine forty, someone knocked on the front door.
All four of us froze.
Lucas reached for the fireplace poker.
“Put that down.”
“It could be her.”
“Then the fireplace poker is a terrible plan.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Not opening the door.”
The knock came again.
Beth checked the peephole.
“Police.”
Lucas lowered the poker.
Officer Daniels, the same officer who had collected Mark’s documents, stood on the porch.
He had another officer with him.
“We’re just checking in.”
“Did you find Evelyn?”
“Not yet.”
“Then what are you checking?”
“That you’re safe.”
Lucas muttered something under his breath.
Daniels heard it.
“Your frustration is noted.”
“That sounds like cop for shut up.”
“It’s cop for your frustration is noted.”
Beth laughed.
Lucas actually smiled.
For ten seconds, the house almost felt normal.
Then Daniels asked whether Evelyn knew our alarm code.
I looked at Lucas.
He looked at me.
“Yes,” we said together.
The officer’s expression changed.
“Change it.”
“I don’t know how.”
Lucas was already pulling up the alarm company app.
“I do.”
He changed the code while Daniels waited.
The old one had been Mark’s birthday.
The new one became something random Lucas generated.
I watched him type it into my phone.
Mark’s birthday disappeared from the keypad.
A stupid detail.
Still, I wanted to cry.
Daniels asked whether Evelyn had keys.
“Mark changed the locks.”
Lucas answered.
I frowned.
“After she had keys.”
“Right.”
Daniels nodded.
“If there’s any chance she copied the new one, use the deadbolt.”
“She never got the new key,” Lucas said.
“How do you know?”
“Dad told me not to give it to her.”
I looked at him.
Another fragment.
Another thing Mark had protected without explaining.
After the officers left, we moved into the living room because nobody wanted to sit in the kitchen anymore.
Beth turned on a lamp.
Marjorie curled her feet beneath herself on the sofa.
Lucas sat on the floor with his back against the coffee table.
I stayed near the window.
Every set of headlights passing the house made my body tighten.
At ten twelve, my phone rang.
Reyes.
“They found her.”
I answered so fast I nearly dropped it.
“Where?”
“St. Matthew’s parking garage.”
The hospital.
I stopped breathing.
“What was she doing there?”
“She was sitting in her car.”
“Why?”
“We’re asking.”
“Did she go inside?”
“Security footage is being reviewed.”
Lucas stood.
“Are you arresting her?”
Reyes heard him.
“She’s being detained while we execute an additional warrant involving her vehicle.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means she is not free to leave at the moment.”
“So yes.”
“No.”
Lucas made an angry noise.
I ignored him.
“Why the hospital?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Then Reyes added, “But officers found something in the trunk.”
My fingers tightened.
“What?”
“A pharmacy bag.”
Lucas moved closer.
“With what?”
Reyes’s voice remained controlled.
“A current albuterol inhaler prescribed to Lily.”
Marjorie covered her mouth.
Beth sat down hard.
I stared at the dark window and saw only my own reflection.
“Used?”
I asked.
“We’re preserving it.”
“Was it still sealed?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
The room disappeared around me.
Lily had been suffocating while her functioning inhaler sat unused somewhere in Evelyn’s possession.
My chest constricted so sharply I bent over.
Beth came toward me.
I held up one hand.
“Don’t.”
She stopped.
Lucas whispered, “She switched them.”
I could not answer.
Reyes said, “We have enough now to hold Mrs. Vance while we continue.”
“Hold her for what?”
“Potential evidence tampering and related offenses while prosecutors review the larger case.”
“Not Lily?”
“Claire.”
“Not murder.”
“Not yet.”
I pressed my fist against my mouth.
“Did she say anything?”
“Very little.”
“What did she say?”
“I can’t give you the full interview.”
“Give me what you can.”
Reyes exhaled.
“She said the new inhaler was in her trunk because she intended to return it to you.”
“When?”
“She did not say.”
“Why was the expired inhaler in Lily’s backpack?”
“She claims she didn’t know it was expired.”
Lucas shouted, “Bullshit.”
I turned toward him.
He looked furious.
Reyes continued.
“She also says Lily used the inhaler repeatedly and that it failed.”
“The expired one.”
“Yes.”
“Did she call 911 when it failed?”
“No.”
The word came out differently this time.
Not uncertain.
Not qualified.
No.
“She waited twenty-one minutes after Marjorie told her to call.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She says she believed Lily was panicking and would recover.”
My vision blurred.
“She asked about delayed ambulances a month ago.”
“I know.”
“She asked about expired inhalers.”
“I know.”
“She insured Lily.”
“We’re verifying the final status of that policy.”
“What does that mean?”
“It may not have been fully active.”
I stopped.
“What?”
Lucas frowned.
Reyes continued.
“The insurer had flagged the application for additional verification because of Lily’s age and medical history.”
“So Evelyn might not have gotten any money.”
May you like
“Correct.”
For the first time, something did not fit.
