Chương 6
Claire felt Liam's fingers in hers.
She looked down at them.
His nails were rimmed with dirt.
"Which part?"
Jeffrey swallowed.
"Don't make this something it wasn't."
Claire raised her eyes.
"I don't know what it was yet."
"Yes, you do."
"No."
"You've already decided."
"Jeffrey, move away from the car."
He stayed there.
Mara put the vehicle into reverse.
"Seriously."
Jeffrey looked at her through the windshield.
Mara gave him a flat stare.
"I am not above honking at you for ten solid minutes."
Jeffrey stepped back.
Mara reversed out of the driveway.
Claire watched through the rear window.
Marilyn stood on the porch with both arms wrapped around herself.
Cynthia disappeared inside first.
Jeffrey remained on the walkway until the house turned behind a row of maples.
Liam did not let go of Claire's hand.
For three blocks, nobody spoke.
Mara drove with both hands at ten and two, unusually careful.
Claire looked out the window and watched ordinary houses pass.
A man dragged a recycling bin toward his garage.
Two teenagers rode bicycles without helmets.
Someone had left a sprinkler running over the sidewalk.
The normal world was offensively intact.
Mara glanced at the mirror.
"Is he asleep?"
Claire looked at Liam.
His eyes were closed.
"No."
A pause.
Then Liam whispered, "I can hear you."
Mara nodded solemnly.
"My mistake."
His eyelids opened a fraction.
Claire brushed hair away from his forehead.
"Are you hungry?"
He shook his head.
"Thirsty?"
Another shake.
"Does anything hurt?"
He looked at her for a long moment.
"My tummy."
Claire's chest tightened.
"Right now?"
He nodded.
"Okay."
She kept her voice neutral.
"Anywhere else?"
He touched his wrist.
Claire looked.
A faint red mark circled part of it.
Not a bruise exactly.
More like pressure.
She did not touch it.
"How did that happen?"
Liam pulled his hand back under his shirt.
"I dunno."
Claire stopped asking.
Mara's knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.
The urgent care clinic was twelve minutes away.
It felt farther.
At a red light, Mara said quietly, "Do you want me to call someone?"
Claire knew what she meant.
Police.
A lawyer.
Their mother.
Anyone who could turn chaos into procedure.
"Not yet."
Mara glanced at the mirror.
"Okay."
Claire hated the uncertainty in her own answer.
Part of her wanted sirens and statements and somebody official to tell Jeffrey he had crossed a line.
Another part wanted nothing except a locked front door and Liam asleep in his own bed.
She could feel both desires at once, ugly and incompatible.
Her phone vibrated.
Jeffrey.
She let it ring.
Then again.
Then a text appeared.
You are overreacting.
A second followed before she finished reading the first.
I made a mistake and already admitted it.
Then another.
Do not weaponize my son against me.
Claire stared at the screen.
Mara's eyes flicked toward the mirror.
"Don't answer."
Claire looked at her.
"I wasn't going to."
"Good."
Claire typed anyway.
She stopped before sending.
Deleted it.
Typed again.
Deleted that too.
Finally she locked the phone.
Liam opened his eyes.
"Mommy?"
"Yeah?"
"Is Dino dead?"
Claire's throat closed.
She turned toward him.
"No, sweetheart."
"You don't know."
The sentence was so quiet and so exact that she had no answer ready.
He watched her.
Claire chose carefully.
"You're right."
Mara looked at her in the mirror.
Claire continued.
"I don't know where Dino is right now."
Liam's mouth trembled.
"But we'll try to find him."
"What if trash truck eats him?"
Claire pictured the green dinosaur under coffee grounds and chicken bones.
"We'll try before that happens."
Liam considered this.
Then he nodded.
The clinic parking lot was half full.
Mara found a space near the entrance.
Claire unbuckled Liam, and this time he let her without panicking.
He reached for her immediately.
She carried him inside.
The waiting room smelled faintly of disinfectant and old coffee.
A television mounted in one corner played a cooking show with captions on.
A toddler pushed wooden beads along a wire maze while his father filled out paperwork.
The receptionist looked up.
"Hi."
Claire opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Mara stepped beside her.
"We need someone to check him."
The receptionist looked at Liam.
Her expression changed almost imperceptibly.
"Of course."
She pulled a clipboard forward.
"Mom?"
Claire nodded.
"Name and date of birth."
Claire answered.
Her own voice sounded detached.
The receptionist typed.
"Reason for visit?"
Claire looked down at Liam.
He had buried his face in her shoulder again.
She swallowed.
"He was left confined in a utility room for an unknown amount of time."
The typing stopped.
The receptionist looked up.
Claire continued.
"He's four."
The woman glanced at Liam's bare feet.
Then at Claire.
"Any known injuries?"
"I don't know."
"Okay."
She stood.
"One moment."
She disappeared through a door behind the desk.
Mara leaned closer.
"That got someone's attention."
Claire nodded.
Her phone vibrated again.
This time it was Marilyn.
Claire almost ignored it.
Then she saw the preview.
I need to tell you the truth about how long he was in there.
Claire read the message twice.
Her thumb hovered over Marilyn's name.
Mara leaned closer without touching the phone.
"What did she say?"
Claire turned the screen toward her.
Mara's face hardened.
"Call her."
Claire looked toward the reception desk.
The door behind it opened, and a nurse in navy scrubs stepped into the waiting room.
"Claire?"
She raised one hand.
The nurse's eyes went to Liam.
"We can bring you back now."
Claire locked the phone.
"Later."
Mara followed them through the door.
The nurse introduced herself as Denise and led them into a small exam room painted a pale green that someone had apparently believed would make frightened children less frightened.
A paper-covered table occupied most of the room.
There was a plastic basket of animal stickers on the counter.
Liam stared at the table and tightened his arms around Claire.
May you like
Denise noticed.
"He doesn't have to sit up there yet."
