Chương 6
“Was she recording him continuously?”
“No. Apparently Lily learned how to turn it on.”
Nora looked toward the wall separating them from the patient room.
“She taught her?”
Barrett’s expression was careful.
“Claire says she did.”
Nora shut her eyes.
That hurt in a different way.
A child should not know how to collect evidence against a parent.
Barrett continued.
“That recording may or may not be admissible depending on circumstances I’m not going to speculate about in a hospital consultation room. But it gives us investigative direction.”
Arthur leaned forward.
“The house system will have the rest.”
“Maybe.”
“It will.”
Barrett looked at him.
“You deleted part of it.”
“I deleted the video through the standard administrator interface.”
“You just told me the audio may persist.”
“Yes.”
“So from this point forward, I would prefer independent forensic personnel determine what exists.”
Arthur sat back.
Nora liked the detective more with every sentence.
Barrett closed her legal pad.
“Claire has agreed not to return home today.”
Nora exhaled.
“Where will she go?”
“Her choice. She mentioned you.”
Nora nodded immediately.
Barrett raised one hand.
“You may want to think about the practical side before saying yes.”
“I have a house.”
“Are you staying there?”
“For three weeks.”
“And after?”
Nora stopped.
Her orders had her returning to Germany in twenty-two days.
Barrett watched her.
“That’s what I mean.”
Nora sat down.
She hated the detective briefly for being correct.
Then hated herself for needing the correction.
“I can extend.”
“Maybe.”
“I can request emergency leave.”
“Maybe.”
Arthur looked between them.
“I have a guesthouse.”
Nora turned to him.
“No.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
“Good.”
Barrett rubbed her forehead.
“This is what the next few days are going to feel like. Everyone has an answer. Most answers will have problems.”
Nobody spoke.
That, too, felt accurate.
Claire chose a hotel.
Not Nora’s house.
That surprised and offended Nora until Claire explained.
“I need one night somewhere nobody has memories.”
Nora wanted to say Daniel could find a hotel.
She stopped herself.
Claire could make a decision.
So Nora drove behind her to a small extended-stay hotel fifteen minutes from the hospital while Lily slept in the back seat of Claire’s car with the teddy bear secured beside her by the seat belt.
The doctor had discharged Lily at six that evening after imaging showed no skull fracture and no intracranial bleeding. She had a concussion, facial lacerations, bruising, and strict instructions to return if vomiting, confusion, worsening headache, or unusual sleepiness developed.
Nora read the discharge sheet three times.
Claire read it once and folded it into her handbag.
At the hotel, Lily refused the pullout sofa.
She wanted the bed nearest the bathroom.
Claire gave it to her.
Nora brought in grocery bags: soup, bread, applesauce, ginger ale, children’s pain medication approved by the discharge instructions, coffee, and a box of chocolate cookies Lily had not asked for.
Claire looked inside the bag.
“You bought the expensive soup.”
“It was six dollars.”
“Exactly.”
“Your daughter has a concussion.”
“So?”
“I panicked.”
Claire looked at her.
Then laughed.
It lasted only a second.
Nora had not heard that sound in months.
Perhaps years.
Lily sat on the bed watching them.
“Can I have the cookies?”
Claire and Nora answered differently.
“One,” Claire said.
“Two,” Nora said.
Lily looked between them.
Claire sighed.
“One and a half.”
Nora opened the package.
“Diplomacy.”
It was the most ordinary thirty seconds of the day.
Nora nearly cried because of it.
She did not.
That night, nobody slept well.
Lily woke at 1:12 and asked whether the hotel door locked.
Claire showed her the deadbolt.
Lily asked whether Daddy had a key.
Claire said no.
Lily asked whether Grandpa did.
Claire hesitated too long.
Nora answered from the second bed.
“No.”
Lily looked toward her.
“How do you know?”
Nora considered lying.
Because I’m here.
Because I won’t let him.
Because adults are supposed to make children believe doors are stronger than they are.
Instead she said, “I don’t know for sure. But nobody has permission to come in, and if anyone tries, we call the front desk and the police.”
Lily thought about that.
“Okay.”
She lay down.
Five minutes later she was asleep.
Claire sat in the chair by the window.
Nora joined her.
Parking-lot lights reflected against the glass.
Claire whispered, “You scared her today.”
“I know.”
“The slap.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to become another person she watches for sudden movements.”
Nora’s throat tightened.
“I know.”
Claire looked at her.
Nora did not defend herself.
Eventually Claire said, “Good.”
They sat without speaking.
A truck backed into a space below, beeping three times.
Someone dragged a suitcase across the sidewalk.
Nora looked at her right hand.
The redness had faded.
“I was so angry,” she said.
Claire gave a tired smile.
“That has also never been your problem.”
Nora almost protested, then stopped.
Claire raised an eyebrow.
“Remember Dad’s funeral?”
Nora groaned softly.
“I did not hit Uncle Pete.”
“You threatened to.”
“He called the honor guard decorative.”
“He was drunk.”
“He was still wrong.”
Claire smiled despite herself.
Then the smile disappeared.
“I used to love that about you.”
Nora looked at her.
“You make anger look useful.”
Claire rubbed her bare wrist.
“I thought mine was dangerous.”
Nora waited.
Claire stared through the window.
“The first year Daniel and I were married, he never touched me. He didn’t have to. He could make a room feel small just by deciding I’d disappointed him.”
“When did he first hit you?”
Claire looked down.
“He never punched me.”
Nora felt irritation rise.
Claire noticed.
“There. That face.”
“What face?”
“The face that says I’m using the wrong legal category for my own life.”
Nora leaned back.
“I’m sorry.”
“He shoved me once.”
May you like
Nora said nothing.
“He blocked doors. Took my keys. Broke things. Grabbed my arms. Held my wrists. One time he drove ninety miles an hour because I said I wanted to get out of the car.”
