Chương 12
She nodded.
That answer seemed to cost her less than reassurance would have.
While Rosa helped her change into pajamas, my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I answered quietly.
“Elmer Stanley?”
“Yes.”
“This is Samuel Hargrove.”
Dennis’s attorney.
My stomach tightened.
“How did you get this number?”
“Your son provided it.”
“I’m not discussing Sophie with you.”
“I’m not calling about Sophie.”
I looked toward the bedroom.
“Then why are you calling?”
There was a pause.
“Dennis asked me to deliver a message.”
“He can send messages through the police.”
“This concerns Margaret.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“What about her?”
Hargrove’s voice became more careful.
“Dennis says the police are going to misunderstand what your wife was involved in.”
I stared down the hallway.
“What was she involved in?”
“He says you have documents in your home that belong to him.”
“Which documents?”
“He would not specify.”
“That’s convenient.”
“He also instructed me to tell you not to give Detective Park the black phone.”
I stopped breathing.
The black phone had never been mentioned to Dennis.
Park was across town with it in an evidence bag.
Only four people had seen us find it.
Me.
Park.
Bell.
And Sam.
“Hargrove.”
“Yes?”
“How does Dennis know about the phone?”
Silence.
Not long.
But long enough.
“I’m only conveying what my client asked me to convey.”
“When did he ask you?”
“I’m not discussing privileged communications.”
“You just discussed one.”
“I delivered a message.”
I looked through the front window.
Sam’s porch light glowed across the street.
His house was quiet.
A car I did not recognize sat at the curb half a block away.
Dark sedan.
Engine running.
Maybe nothing.
Maybe not.
“Hargrove, tell Dennis something for me.”
“I can pass along a message.”
“Tell him I’m done protecting him from the cost of his choices.”
Hargrove sighed.
“Mr. Stanley, I would advise you not to turn this into a personal confrontation.”
“It became personal before I knew it existed.”
I ended the call.
Then I called Park.
She answered immediately.
“Hargrove knows about the black phone.”
Her voice changed.
“What exactly did he say?”
I repeated it.
“Did you tell anyone besides us?”
“No.”
“Bell?”
“He was standing there.”
“Sam?”
“He saw us searching, but I don’t know whether he saw the phone.”
Park was silent.
“Stay inside.”
“I am.”
“Lock the doors.”
“The back lock isn’t finished.”
“Where’s Sam?”
“Home, I think.”
“Do not go check.”
I looked again at the dark sedan.
Its headlights came on.
Then it pulled away from the curb and turned at the corner.
“Park.”
“Yes?”
“There was a car outside.”
“What kind?”
I described it.
“Did you get the plate?”
“No.”
“Do not go outside.”
Behind me, floorboards creaked.
I turned.
Sophie stood in the hallway wearing purple pajamas.
Her face had gone pale.
She was staring at the front window.
“That car,” she whispered.
I lowered the phone.
“What about it?”
Sophie gripped Bunny with both hands.
“That was the man from Daddy’s house.”
I kept the phone against my ear.
“Which man?”
Sophie pointed toward the corner where the sedan had disappeared.
“The one Daddy talked to outside.”
Park heard her.
“Do not ask her anything else.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Move away from the windows.”
I closed the blinds.
Rosa came from the bedroom carrying a small wooden chair and stopped when she saw my face.
“What happened?”
“Someone was watching the house.”
Sophie said, “The boat man.”
The room went still.
Park’s voice came through the phone.
“Mr. Stanley, put me on speaker.”
I did.
“Sophie,” she said gently, “this is Detective Park.”
Sophie held Bunny tighter.
“I know.”
“You don’t need to answer questions right now.”
“Okay.”
“I want you to stay inside with Elmer and Rosa.”
“Okay.”
Park shifted back to me.
“Officers are coming.”
“How long?”
“Soon.”
“Is Nunes accounted for?”
“He was when we last checked.”
“That sounds bad.”
“It means I’m checking again.”
The line clicked quiet for several seconds.
Then Park returned.
“Nunes is at his residence.”
“Then who was outside?”
“We don’t know.”
Sophie looked between us.
“He came to Daddy’s house.”
Park paused.
“When?”
Sophie frowned.
I said, “Park.”
“I know.”
The detective’s voice softened.
“Sophie, you can tell the interviewer about that another time.”
Sophie nodded, but her face had closed again.
Rosa moved to the couch and sat beside her.
“Do you want cartoons?”
“No.”
“Cookies?”
“No.”
“An orange?”
Sophie looked offended.
Rosa shrugged.
“I am offering my full range.”
Sophie almost smiled.
I went to the back door.
The lock cylinder had been replaced, but Sam’s tools were still on the kitchen counter.
I checked the deadbolt twice.
Then I checked the front.
Then every window on the first floor.
By the time I returned to the living room, I was aware I had become the exact kind of frightened relative I used to warn against turning a child’s home into a fortress.
But fear had already entered the house.
Pretending otherwise would not make it leave.
Two patrol officers arrived nine minutes later.
One walked the block.
The other took my statement and asked whether the sedan had done anything besides idle and leave.
“No.”
“Any threats?”
“No.”
“Anyone approach the house?”
“No.”
He wrote it down.
The facts sounded embarrassingly small on paper.
A car had parked.
A child had recognized someone.
The rest was fear.
Park arrived twenty minutes later.
She had changed vehicles since I last saw her.
Unmarked gray SUV.
She spoke to the patrol officers outside, then came in.
Sophie had fallen asleep curled against Rosa with Bunny under her chin.
Park lowered her voice.
“We identified the vehicle.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who owns it?”
“Registered to a company called Northbank Marine Logistics.”
“That sounds connected.”
“It may be.”
“Nunes?”
“He doesn’t own the company.”
“Who does?”
“A man named Michael Cole.”
The name hit me.
“Cole.”
“Yes.”
“Related to Marissa?”
“We’re checking.”
May you like
Sophie moved in her sleep.
Park waited until she settled.
