Chương 3
“You want to know what’s happening?”
“Mom, stop talking.”
“No, Julian.”
Eleanor’s bloody smile widened.
“She should know.”
Julian went completely still.
Eleanor looked at Chloe.
“You think Victoria’s baby is the first child this family tried to get rid of?”
Chloe’s face emptied.
Julian whispered, “Mom.”
Eleanor turned her eyes toward him.
“Tell your sister why she spent the first six months of her life with another name.”
Chloe stared at her mother as if the blood on Eleanor’s temple had suddenly become the least important thing in the room.
“What name?”
Eleanor’s grip loosened around Chloe’s wrist.
Julian took one step forward.
“Mom, don’t.”
Chloe looked at him.
“What name?”
Julian’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.
Outside, tires crunched over the circular drive.
A pale sweep of headlights moved across the foyer windows and disappeared.
Victoria remained at the top of the staircase, her phone still in her hand, her heart beating so hard that the baby seemed to shift with each pulse.
Eleanor turned her head toward the sound outside.
For the first time since Victoria had seen her kneeling over the stairs, fear stripped the control from her face.
“Get me up.”
Chloe did not move.
“Tell me.”
“Not now.”
“You just said I had another name.”
Eleanor tried to push herself upright and winced.
Julian reached down.
She slapped his hand away.
“Don’t touch me.”
A sharp knock sounded at the front door.
Then another.
“Mrs. Vance?” a man called from outside.
“Austin Police.”
Chloe’s eyes widened.
She looked up at Victoria.
“You really called them.”
“I sent evidence to my attorney.”
Julian looked at Victoria then, and something in his expression changed.
Not surprise.
Calculation.
“How much did you send?”
Victoria almost laughed.
The question was so perfectly Julian that it steadied her.
Not Are you hurt.
Not Is the baby okay.
Not What did my mother do.
How much did you send.
“Enough.”
Another knock sounded.
“Police.”
Julian’s gaze flicked toward the side hallway.
Victoria knew where that hallway led.
His office.
The home server cabinet.
The garage.
“Don’t,” she said.
Julian stopped.
Chloe looked between them.
“Don’t what?”
Victoria raised her phone.
“Whatever he’s thinking.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”
“I know you’re not thinking about your mother bleeding on the floor.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“Open the door, Chloe.”
Chloe stared at her.
A strange, brittle smile touched her mouth.
“Now you want the police inside?”
“Open it.”
“After you tell me my name.”
“Chloe.”
“My name.”
Eleanor’s face hardened.
“Camille.”
The word seemed to fall more heavily than Eleanor had.
Chloe blinked.
“What?”
“You were Camille Hart.”
Julian turned away.
Chloe watched him do it.
“That means something to you.”
“No.”
“You can’t even look at me.”
“Chloe, this is not the time.”
“You’ve apparently known my whole life that my name wasn’t my name, so I think you lost the right to schedule this conversation.”
The knock came again, followed by a second voice saying they would enter if someone inside needed medical assistance.
Victoria called down, “The door is unlocked.”
Julian looked up sharply.
The front door opened.
Two uniformed officers entered with a third person behind them carrying a medical bag.
Everyone began talking at once.
Chloe pointed toward Eleanor.
“She fell.”
Eleanor said, “I slipped.”
Julian said, “There’s something on the stairs.”
Victoria said, “Do not step on the marble.”
The older officer held up both hands.
“Everybody stop.”
The room quieted unevenly.
The officer looked at Eleanor.
“Ma’am, can you tell me if you lost consciousness?”
“No.”
“I need you to stay still.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding from the head.”
“I said I’m fine.”
The medic crouched beside her.
Eleanor resisted for three seconds, then allowed him to examine her.
The younger officer moved toward the staircase and stopped before the first step.
He crouched without touching it.
“What is this?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Victoria said, “Grease.”
The older officer looked up.
“How do you know?”
“I recorded her putting it there.”
Eleanor’s head snapped toward Victoria.
The medic gently pushed her back.
“Please don’t move.”
The officer looked from Victoria to Eleanor.
“You recorded who?”
“My mother-in-law.”
Chloe made a short sound that might have been a laugh if there had been anything funny left in her.
“She also just told me I used to be someone named Camille Hart.”
“Chloe,” Julian said.
“No, I’m serious.”
The officer’s expression remained professionally neutral.
“That’s separate from what happened here tonight.”
“It really doesn’t feel separate.”
“Maybe not, but we’re going to take this one thing at a time.”
Victoria appreciated him for saying it.
Her mind had stopped doing one thing at a time almost an hour ago.
The younger officer stepped away from the stairs and spoke into his radio.
He requested crime-scene personnel and additional medical support.
The word crime-scene made Julian flinch.
Victoria saw it.
So did Chloe.
“Julian,” Chloe said quietly.
He looked at her.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Mom said you were running out of time.”
Eleanor said, “Chloe, shut up.”
The older officer looked toward her.
“Ma’am, I’m going to ask everyone not to discuss the incident with each other right now.”
Chloe folded her arms.
“Good luck with that.”
The medic asked Eleanor what medications she took.
She ignored him.
He asked again.
“Blood pressure medication.”
“Anything for clotting?”
“No.”
“Blood thinners?”
“No.”
He shined a light into her eyes.
Eleanor swore and turned her face away.
Victoria watched from above and suddenly became aware of how cold the tile felt beneath her feet.
She had left her slippers beside the bed.
Her water glass was still in her hand.
She set it carefully on the hallway table.
The ridiculous normality of the glass almost broke her.
She had bought six of them on sale because Julian complained the old ones were too heavy.
There were five downstairs in the cabinet.
May you like
One beside her.
A set of glasses had survived her marriage better than her trust had.
