Chương 8
A paramedic began attaching monitors.
Officer Reynolds stood outside the open doors.
“We’ll have an officer at the hospital.”
Victoria looked toward the house.
“Julian?”
“He’ll remain here for now.”
“Is he detained?”
“Not yet.”
Chloe snorted.
“That phrase is doing a lot of work tonight.”
Officer Reynolds almost smiled, then didn’t.
Victoria looked at him.
“The basement.”
“We’re securing it.”
“There may be documents.”
“There may be a lot of things.”
His tone was careful.
“We need legal authority before we go beyond what’s immediately necessary.”
Victoria nodded.
She appreciated the restraint even while hating it.
The ambulance doors closed.
For the first time that night, Julian disappeared from her sight.
The vehicle began moving.
Chloe sat on the bench opposite Victoria, one hand wrapped around the rail.
Neither woman spoke for several blocks.
The paramedic watched the monitor and asked Victoria to rate the pain.
“Five.”
Chloe said, “That looked like more than five.”
Victoria breathed out slowly.
“I’m trying not to impress anyone.”
The paramedic gave a quiet laugh.
Chloe’s mouth twitched.
Then she looked down at her cracked phone.
“My whole life is apparently fake.”
Victoria watched her.
“No.”
Chloe looked up.
“Pretty sure tonight is making a strong case.”
“Your name may have started as someone else’s decision.”
Victoria shifted as another contraction eased.
“That doesn’t make your whole life fake.”
Chloe stared at the floor.
“You don’t even like me.”
Victoria did not answer immediately.
The ambulance turned, and a wash of streetlight moved over Chloe’s face.
“No,” Victoria said.
Chloe blinked.
Victoria continued.
“I don’t like the way you’ve treated me.”
“That’s not better.”
“It’s more honest.”
Chloe looked back down.
“You paid my rent for eleven months.”
“I know.”
“And the credit cards.”
“I know.”
“And I called you a cash cow.”
“Yes.”
Chloe swallowed.
“I thought you didn’t know that.”
“I knew.”
“Why didn’t you cut me off?”
Victoria considered the question.
Because she had wanted Julian’s family to like her.
Because generosity had been easier than confrontation.
Because after her father died, being needed had felt close enough to being loved that she had stopped distinguishing between them.
She chose the smallest truth.
“I was bad at saying no.”
Chloe rubbed the cracked corner of her phone.
“That sounds nicer than it was.”
Victoria looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
“You bought peace.”
The words stung because they were accurate.
Chloe continued before Victoria could respond.
“We took it because it was easy.”
The paramedic adjusted a cuff around Victoria’s arm.
“You two related?”
Chloe and Victoria answered at the same time.
“No.”
“Unfortunately.”
The paramedic glanced between them and decided not to pursue it.
Chloe surprised herself with a small laugh.
Victoria did too.
The laughter lasted less than a second, but it loosened something between them.
Then Chloe’s expression changed.
“What if Camille is alive?”
Victoria looked toward the rear doors.
“I don’t know.”
“Wouldn’t Mara have found her?”
“Maybe she tried.”
“Julian knows more.”
“Yes.”
“You think Mom knows where she is?”
Victoria thought of Eleanor shouting about the computer.
“I think your mother knows what happened.”
Chloe pressed her lips together.
“And Dad?”
“I don’t know.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“This time it’s true.”
The ambulance slowed at the hospital entrance.
Bright white lights filled the rear windows.
The doors opened onto movement and noise.
A nurse met them with a wheelchair.
Another asked questions while walking beside Victoria.
Thirty-four weeks.
Contractions.
No bleeding.
No fluid loss.
Fetal movement present.
Possible acute trauma exposure.
Possible attempted assault.
Chloe followed until a nurse stopped her outside triage.
“Family?”
Chloe hesitated.
Victoria watched her.
“She’s with me.”
The nurse nodded and let her pass.
The room they entered smelled faintly of disinfectant and warmed blankets.
A fetal monitor was strapped across Victoria’s stomach.
Within seconds, the baby’s heartbeat filled the room in quick, steady beats.
Victoria’s eyes closed.
She had not realized how badly she needed that sound.
Chloe sat in the corner.
For nearly a minute, she did not say anything.
Then she whispered, “That’s weirdly loud.”
Victoria opened her eyes.
“It always is.”
“Sounds like a horse running.”
“That’s what they all say.”
Chloe looked at the monitor.
“Is she okay?”
“So far.”
“You’re having a girl?”
Victoria nodded.
Chloe’s face changed.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
She looked away toward the window.
A nurse entered and checked the tracing.
“Baby looks reassuring.”
Victoria let out a breath.
The nurse examined her and said the cervix had changed slightly but not enough to call active labor.
“We’re going to watch you.”
“How long?”
“At least several hours.”
Victoria nodded.
“Your doctor is on the way.”
The nurse glanced toward Chloe.
“And security has been notified.”
Chloe looked uncomfortable.
“Because of us?”
“Because police requested it.”
After the nurse left, Victoria picked up her phone.
There were seven missed calls.
Three from Julian.
Two from Mara.
One from an unknown number.
One from Eleanor.
Victoria stared at Eleanor’s name.
Chloe saw it.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t answer.”
Victoria tapped Mara’s number instead.
The call connected immediately.
“Victoria.”
Mara sounded out of breath.
“Where are you?”
“Hospital.”
“Is the baby okay?”
“Yes.”
A pause followed.
“Good.”
Victoria looked at Chloe.
“She’s here.”
Another pause.
“Who?”
“Chloe.”
Mara went silent.
Chloe leaned forward.
Victoria put the phone on speaker.
“Mara?”
There was a soft rustle on the other end.
Then Mara said, “Chloe.”
Chloe’s face hardened.
“You know who I am.”
“Yes.”
“Not like that.”
Mara did not answer.
Chloe’s voice sharpened.
“You know about Camille.”
“Yes.”
Victoria felt the room grow smaller.
“How much do you know?”
Mara took a breath.
“Enough that I should have told you sooner.”
Victoria’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“Sooner than when?”
“Before tonight.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
Mara sounded tired.
“It isn’t.”
Chloe stood.
“What happened to her?”
“I don’t know for certain.”
Julian’s phrase, but Mara’s voice carried something different.
Not evasion.
Fear.
May you like
Chloe heard it.
“What do you know for certain?”
