Chương 11
I hated those three words.
I had spent most of the morning discovering things I didn’t know.
I didn’t know what I signed.
I didn’t know where the money went.
I didn’t know cameras were hidden in my house.
I didn’t know my husband had been building a case against me.
And now I didn’t know whether the woman sleeping with him was the closest thing I had to a witness.
I typed, Give it to security.
Claire answered almost immediately.
Okay.
Then, I’m sorry.
I did not reply.
A few minutes later, Lauren arrived.
I heard her before I saw her.
She was arguing quietly with someone outside the room.
“I am on the approved list.”
A staff member answered something I couldn’t hear.
“Yes, I understand identification is required, but she literally just gave birth.”
Another murmur.
“I know babies do not waive hospital policy.”
I smiled despite myself.
Then the door opened.
Lauren walked in carrying my laptop bag, my overnight bag, and a grocery sack stuffed with something bulky.
Her eyes found Noah.
Everything else fell out of her face.
“Oh.”
She put the bags down without looking where.
“Oh, Rachel.”
I started crying before she reached the bed.
She hugged me carefully around the shoulders.
Then she pulled back and looked at my son.
“That is a baby.”
“I was told.”
“He is extremely small.”
“He is newborn-sized.”
“I don’t know what I expected.”
Noah released his latch and made an offended noise.
Lauren stared.
“He sounds like Dad.”
I laughed through tears.
“He does not.”
“He absolutely does.”
She touched one finger to the edge of his blanket.
“Hi, Noah.”
Her voice cracked.
I looked away to give her the dignity she wasn’t getting from her own face.
“What’s in the grocery bag?”
She wiped under one eye.
“Food.”
“You brought groceries?”
“You said you’d barely eaten.”
“You stopped at a store after the police?”
“I used curbside pickup.”
“Of course you did.”
“I also brought the good socks.”
She pulled a pair of thick gray socks from the bag.
I stared at her.
Those were the socks I had complained about losing three months earlier.
“Where were those?”
“Laundry room.”
“I looked everywhere.”
“You looked badly.”
For one minute, my life became about socks.
I put them on.
They were too warm.
I loved them.
Then Lauren saw Dana.
The softness disappeared.
“You’re patient relations?”
“Yes.”
Lauren nodded toward my laptop bag.
“I have photographs.”
Dana did not reach for it.
“If Rachel wants them included in the hospital documentation, we can discuss the best way to preserve relevant material.”
Lauren glanced at me.
“Your call.”
“Later.”
“Okay.”
She sat in the chair that had been empty all day.
The sight of someone I trusted in it made my throat tighten.
“I need you to tell me exactly what happened at the house.”
Lauren leaned back.
“Eric saw me through the doorbell camera, apparently.”
“And inside?”
“I don’t know for sure.”
“The cameras.”
“Yes.”
“Were they recording?”
“I didn’t check.”
“Good.”
She gave me a look.
“I learned after touching the first one.”
Dana said, “Did Eric threaten you?”
Lauren thought about it.
“Not directly.”
“Did he attempt to enter your vehicle?”
“He pulled the handle once.”
My stomach tightened.
“You didn’t tell me that.”
“You were busy producing a human.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
“It is a pretty solid excuse.”
Dana took a note.
“Did he damage the car?”
“No.”
“Block you from leaving?”
“He stood in front for maybe ten seconds.”
“Lauren.”
“I honked.”
“You honked at him?”
“A lot.”
Despite everything, I pictured it.
Lauren locked in her Honda, leaning on the horn while Eric stood in the driveway trying to preserve his dignity.
A laugh escaped me.
Then guilt followed.
Lauren noticed.
“You’re allowed to laugh.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
She looked at Noah again.
“He looks like you.”
I glanced down.
He looked like a wrinkled old man with excellent hair.
“Does he?”
“No idea.”
We both laughed.
The door opened again.
Janet stepped in carrying a sealed manila envelope.
“Security received this from Claire Bennett.”
My laughter vanished.
Lauren’s posture changed.
“What is it?”
Janet looked at me.
“She asked that it be given only to you.”
I held out my hand.
The envelope was heavier than paper should have been.
Inside was a small USB drive and a folded note.
The note was handwritten.
Rachel,
I know you have no reason to trust me.
Eric gave me this drive in June and told me it contained copies of financial records he wanted me to keep in case you emptied the accounts.
I never opened most of it.
I opened it today.
There are documents about you that I did not know existed.
There are also audio files.
I am giving you the original drive he gave me.
I made a copy for myself because I am scared of what he will say I did.
I am leaving.
Claire.
Lauren read over my shoulder.
“Audio files?”
Dana immediately said, “Do not plug that into a hospital computer.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
Lauren held out my laptop bag.
“We have our own.”
Dana considered that.
“I can’t advise you on evidence handling.”
“I know.”
“But if you believe the drive may matter legally, preserving the original unchanged would be prudent.”
Lauren withdrew the laptop.
“So we do not touch it.”
“That would be my personal preference until you’ve spoken to counsel.”
I looked at the drive.
A plain black rectangle.
No label.
No symbolism.
Just plastic and metal.
I slipped it back into the envelope.
“Then we wait.”
Lauren nodded.
“Good.”
That was the first decision all day that felt like control rather than reaction.
Noah began crying.
Not politely.
Not gradually.
One second he was asleep, the next he was furious with existence.
Lauren startled.
“Why is he doing that?”
“He’s a baby.”
“Can you make him stop?”
May you like
I stared at her.
“You’ve been an aunt for nine minutes and you’re already useless.”
