Chương 10
Park opened the pouch.
Inside was a black prepaid phone.
The same cheap plastic body I remembered beside the spice rack.
My heartbeat kicked.
“That’s it.”
Park did not touch the buttons yet.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
She photographed it where it lay.
Then she turned the pouch over.
A folded piece of paper slipped onto the closet floor.
Bell picked it up by the corner before remembering he was not the detective and froze.
Park gave him a look.
“Put it down.”
He did.
She photographed the paper, then unfolded it with gloves.
There were three names written in Margaret’s handwriting.
Marissa Cole.
Sophie Cole.
Dennis Stanley.
Beside Sophie’s name was a date of birth.
Beneath all three names, Margaret had written one sentence.
Do not let Elmer give Dennis money until he knows what Dennis did.
For several seconds, nobody in the room moved.
The sentence looked like a warning written across seven years.
My first instinct was defensive.
Not toward Dennis.
Toward Margaret.
“She should have told me.”
Park kept her eyes on the paper.
“Maybe she tried.”
“That’s not the same.”
“No.”
“She knew I would want to know.”
Park finally looked at me.
“Did she?”
The question struck harder than accusation.
I sat on the edge of the spare bed.
Bell remained by the window, wisely silent.
I could hear Winston scratching at the hallway rug.
Margaret’s note lay between us like evidence from a marriage I had believed I understood.
“She knew I loved him.”
“That may have been exactly the problem.”
I looked away.
On the wall stood a framed photograph from our thirtieth anniversary.
Margaret was laughing because the waiter had spilled champagne on my sleeve.
I remembered the laugh.
I did not remember what we had talked about afterward.
Memory was cruel that way.
It preserved stains and discarded warnings.
Park photographed the note and then the prepaid phone.
“I’m going to ask you not to handle either of these.”
“Fine.”
“We may be able to recover messages.”
“After seven years?”
“Maybe.”
“You said maybe twice.”
“I’m trying not to lie to you.”
That answer earned more respect than comfort would have.
Bell finished the room assessment and stepped into the hall to call his supervisor.
Park stayed.
“What do you think Dennis did?”
“I don’t know.”
“You have theories.”
“I have possibilities.”
“Give me one.”
She hesitated.
“Margaret knew about Sophie before she died.”
“That part seems obvious.”
“It suggests Marissa contacted her.”
“Why Margaret?”
“Maybe because Margaret worked with the shelter.”
I looked at the old phone.
“Marissa never stayed at that shelter.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She would have told me.”
Again, Park said nothing.
I exhaled.
“Right.”
She folded the note along its original crease.
“If Marissa reached out to Margaret for help concerning Dennis, that would explain why Margaret refused to fund him.”
“But not why she hid Sophie from me.”
“No.”
“Unless she thought I’d tell Dennis.”
Park’s silence answered.
I stood and went to the window.
Across the street, Mr. Heller was dragging his garbage bin to the curb even though pickup was not until Friday.
He did that sometimes.
Retirement had made weekday boundaries optional for him.
I envied the scale of his mistake.
“She didn’t trust me,” I said.
Park did not soften it.
“Maybe not in this one matter.”
“That’s enough.”
“Not necessarily.”
“It is when you’ve been married forty-six years.”
Behind me, she placed the phone in an evidence bag.
“You can be trustworthy in most of your life and dangerous in one specific blind spot.”
The sentence sounded like something I might once have said to a parent.
I hated hearing it from someone else.
Bell returned.
“The placement is approved for tonight.”
Everything in me shifted.
“When can I get her?”
“After we finish the final paperwork and your neighbor secures the firearm according to procedure.”
I nodded.
“I’ll call him.”
My neighbor, Sam Wilcox, answered on the fourth ring.
“Elmer?”
“I need a favor.”
“If it involves your gutters, I warned you.”
“It doesn’t.”
“You sound strange.”
“I have a child coming to stay with me.”
There was a pause.
“You what?”
“I’ll explain later.”
That was a lie.
I had no idea how to explain any of it.
“I need you to bring your locking transport case over.”
“What happened?”
“Sam.”
His tone changed.
“I’m coming.”
He arrived eight minutes later wearing house slippers and carrying a hard-sided case.
He saw Park’s badge, Bell’s tablet, and the open closet.
His eyes widened.
“This is not gutters.”
“No.”
He looked at me for a long moment.
“Is Dennis okay?”
The question struck an unexpected nerve.
“No.”
Sam waited.
I gave him nothing else.
He nodded and followed Bell to the garage.
Park’s phone rang.
She glanced at the screen and stepped into the hallway.
I could hear only fragments.
“Yes.”
“Confirmed?”
“When?”
“Seattle?”
Then her voice lowered.
I stood before she returned.
“What happened?”
She tucked the phone into her pocket.
“Dennis and Trisha landed in Seattle.”
“Are they detained?”
“Dennis is.”
My chest tightened.
“On what charge?”
“Law enforcement had probable cause related to Sophie’s removal and Marissa’s assault.”
“And Trisha?”
“Not at this time.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means they detained Dennis.”
“Trisha knew Sophie was in the attic.”
“That is part of the investigation.”
“She went up there.”
“Yes.”
“She helped leave her there.”
“Yes.”
“And she can walk away?”
Park’s expression remained controlled.
“Today.”
The word mattered.
I heard it.
“Today?”
“Investigations do not end at airports.”
I paced once across the room.
“What did Dennis do?”
“Apparently not much.”
“What does that mean?”
“He invoked counsel.”
“Of course he did.”
“He’s allowed to.”
“I know he’s allowed.”
I rubbed my palms against my pants.
“Where is Trisha?”
“She left the airport with an attorney.”
“The same one?”
“No.”
That surprised me.
“Different attorneys?”
“Yes.”
The marriage had begun separating under pressure.
It should not have satisfied me.
May you like
It did a little.
That was one of the uglier emotions of the day.
