Chương 11
Grace looked at me.
“You’re terrible at this.”
“I’m learning.”
“You hold him like expensive luggage.”
“That feels unfair to both of us.”
This time she did laugh.
Very quietly.
It vanished quickly, but the room felt different afterward.
Grace adjusted Noah against her chest.
Then she said, “What did Patel want?”
I handed her my phone.
“He texted instead when I didn’t answer.”
She read the message.
Her expression changed.
“What is it?”
She gave the phone back.
“They found Nora.”
I read the line again.
Nora Bell had agreed to speak with investigators and was on her way to the hospital because she had requested to see Grace.
I looked up.
“Do you want that?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
Grace looked at Noah.
“That’s what makes it harder.”
She sat quietly for a moment.
“When I was in that room, Nora was the only person who ever acted like I was still a person.”
“What did she do?”
“Small things.”
Grace’s fingers moved over Noah’s blanket.
“She loosened the strap once.”
My stomach tightened.
“She brought me ice without asking your mother.”
“She left the bathroom door open when she was supposed to lock it.”
“She let me keep a pen for almost an hour.”
“A pen?”
Grace nodded.
“That’s how I started writing things down.”
“Where?”
“Inside the lining of the pillowcase.”
I stared at her.
“What things?”
“Dates.”
“Names.”
“Medication times.”
“Who came in.”
“Anything I could remember.”
“Is it still there?”
“I don’t know.”
“They removed the bedding.”
Grace went still.
“Then they may have taken it.”
I stood before I meant to.
She looked at me.
“Sit.”
I did.
“What?”
“You’re doing it again.”
“What?”
“Turning every new fact into something you need to chase.”
I rubbed my face.
“I don’t know what else to do.”
“Stay here.”
The words were simple.
I looked at her.
She looked back.
“Just stay here for five minutes without fixing anything.”
So I did.
Noah made tiny noises against her.
The heater clicked on beneath the window.
A cart rattled past the room.
Someone in the hallway complained about vending machine coffee.
Five minutes felt longer than the thirty-four-minute drive to the lake house.
Then Grace said, “Thank you.”
I nodded.
A nurse came in to check her blood pressure.
It was lower, though still high enough to keep everyone attentive.
The nurse asked about headache, vision changes, nausea, pain, bleeding, and whether Grace wanted breakfast.
“Anything that doesn’t involve oatmeal.”
The nurse smiled.
“That eliminates half our menu.”
“I’ll risk the other half.”
After she left, Grace said, “I want to see Nora.”
“You’re sure?”
“No.”
That answer was becoming familiar.
It was also the most honest kind.
Nora arrived twenty minutes later with Detective Patel.
She looked smaller than I remembered.
Her hair was pulled into a loose knot, and she wore a cardigan buttoned wrong at the bottom.
She stopped in the doorway when she saw Grace.
Her face collapsed.
“Oh, honey.”
Grace stiffened.
Nora covered her mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
Patel stayed near the door.
Grace’s expression hardened.
“Did you know they were going to lock me in there?”
Nora nodded once.
“Yes.”
The answer was brutal because it came without decoration.
“Did you know for how long?”
“No.”
“Did you know about the restraints?”
Nora’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Grace looked away.
Noah shifted.
Nora took one step forward, then stopped herself.
“I told myself it was temporary.”
Grace laughed without humor.
“Everyone told themselves something.”
Nora looked at me.
“I knew it was wrong.”
“Then why?”
Her face tightened.
“Because your mother paid for my husband’s hospice care.”
I said nothing.
“My insurance stopped covering his home nurse.”
Nora rubbed her thumb against the edge of her sleeve.
“Your father stepped in first.”
“After he died, your mother kept paying my rent.”
Grace watched her.
“So you owed her.”
“I thought I did.”
“You thought you owed her me?”
Nora flinched.
“No.”
Grace’s voice sharpened.
“But that’s what you gave her.”
Nora nodded.
“Yes.”
Patel did not interrupt.
Nora took a breath that shook on the way in.
“The night they restrained you, I almost called the police.”
“Almost.”
“I know.”
“What stopped you?”
“Mercer.”
Grace’s eyes narrowed.
“What did he say?”
“That if police came, they would take you to a psychiatric unit because you had threatened self-harm.”
“I never did.”
“I know.”
“Did you know then?”
Nora hesitated.
“I suspected.”
Grace looked at me.
There was no triumph in her face.
Only exhaustion.
Nora continued.
“He told me you had already made threats in front of staff.”
“What staff?”
“Victor’s men.”
Grace shook her head.
“I told them I would break a window.”
“I know that now.”
Patel finally spoke.
“How?”
Nora looked at him.
“Because I found the recording.”
The room went quiet.
“What recording?” I asked.
Nora opened her bag and pulled out an old phone.
“My phone.”
She held it carefully.
“I recorded part of the conversation that night.”
Patel’s expression changed.
“Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?”
“I was afraid she would find out.”
“Who?”
Nora looked at me as if the answer should have been obvious.
“Evelyn.”
Patel held out his hand.
Nora didn’t give him the phone immediately.
“I made copies.”
“That was wise.”
“I sent one to my niece.”
“That was wiser.”
Nora finally handed it over.
Patel did not play it.
He placed it inside an evidence bag.
Grace stared at the phone.
“What’s on it?”
Nora swallowed.
“Mercer telling your mother the restraints were unnecessary.”
My jaw tightened.
“And?”
Nora looked at Grace.
“Your mother telling him to document that you had become physically aggressive.”
Grace went still.
“I never touched anyone.”
“I know.”
“And Mercer?”
“He said he wouldn’t falsify a record.”
Grace leaned back against the pillow.
A little color returned to her face.
“What did she say?”
Nora hesitated.
Patel said, “You can tell her.”
May you like
Nora looked down.
“She said he didn’t need to falsify anything.”
