Chương 12
“I should have listened.”
“You did listen.”
“Not enough.”
“You couldn’t hear what I wasn’t saying.”
Lena shook her head.
“I could have tried harder.”
Mara felt irritation again, but this time it was mixed with tenderness.
“You’re making this about your guilt.”
Lena stared at her.
“That sounds like something you’d say at work.”
“It does.”
“It’s annoying.”
“I know.”
Lena squeezed her hand.
“I’ll stop.”
Tessa waited until the sisters settled before speaking again.
“Where were you planning to stay tonight?”
“With Lena.”
Lena nodded immediately.
“My apartment.”
“Does Daniel have a key?”
Lena frowned.
“No.”
Mara looked at her.
“The frog.”
“What frog?”
“The ceramic frog by your door.”
Lena’s face went blank.
Then understanding arrived.
“Oh.”
Tessa looked between them.
“Spare key?”
Lena grimaced.
“He knows?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“Christmas.”
Lena leaned back.
“Fantastic.”
“I told you that hiding place was bad.”
“Not today.”
“Sorry.”
Lena pulled out her phone.
“I can call the landlord.”
Tessa nodded.
“Ask about changing or rekeying the lock.”
“Today?”
“If possible.”
Lena was already typing.
“What else?”
Mara stared at her.
The speed of Lena’s response was comforting and irritating at the same time.
“Don’t turn into a project manager.”
“I’m an accountant.”
“That’s worse.”
Tessa’s mouth twitched.
Lena ignored them both.
“I’m calling.”
She stepped toward the window and dialed.
Mara watched her sister negotiate with someone about an emergency lock change.
The conversation became absurdly specific.
After-hours fee.
Building policy.
Whether maintenance had a compatible cylinder available.
Whether the landlord needed written notice.
Mara listened to the details and felt calmer.
A lock was a problem with parts.
A problem with an invoice.
A problem somebody could solve with a screwdriver.
Priya entered carrying a cup of ice water.
“Dr. Ellis wants to keep monitoring another few hours.”
“Are the contractions bad?”
“They’re less frequent.”
Mara exhaled.
“And the baby?”
“Still reassuring.”
Lena covered the phone microphone.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Then she returned to arguing about the lock.
Priya handed Mara the water.
“There’s one more thing.”
Mara looked up.
“Security called.”
Her body tightened.
“Daniel left the lobby.”
Mara waited.
Relief did not come.
“Where did he go?”
“They don’t know.”
Tessa’s attention sharpened.
Mara looked at Lena.
Lena ended her call without saying goodbye.
“What?”
“He left.”
“That’s good.”
“No.”
Mara gripped the plastic cup.
Daniel did not abandon control.
He changed tactics.
Her phone was still inside the purse.
She reached for it.
Tessa moved the purse onto the bed.
Mara unzipped it and woke the screen.
No new messages.
That was worse.
Lena watched her face.
“What are you thinking?”
Mara opened the location-sharing settings.
Her name.
Daniel’s name.
Their shared family group.
Her stomach dropped.
“He can see me.”
Tessa stood.
“Through what?”
“Location sharing.”
Mara’s fingers moved faster.
“He’s had it since we got married.”
She turned it off.
A notification warned that the change might be visible to the other person.
Lena looked at her own phone.
“Could he see me too?”
Mara looked at her.
They had shared locations during a road trip months earlier.
“I don’t know.”
Lena opened her settings.
Her face changed.
“Yes.”
Tessa reached for the room phone.
“Call your landlord back.”
Lena stared at Mara.
“Why?”
Mara already knew.
Because Daniel had not needed to wait outside the hospital.
He knew exactly where Lena lived.
He knew the key was under the frog.
And until thirty seconds ago, he could see that Lena was at County General with Mara.
Lena stared at the screen in her hand as though the map might change if she waited.
“He can see my apartment.”
“He knows where it is anyway.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Mara looked at Tessa.
“He knows where she is right now, and he knows no one’s home.”
Tessa was already speaking into the room phone.
“Security, this is Morgan with advocacy on obstetric triage.”
She listened, then turned slightly away.
“I need to know whether Daniel Mercer exited through the main entrance and whether anyone saw what direction he went.”
Lena called her landlord again.
This time she did not bother with politeness.
“I need maintenance at my unit now.”
She paced beside the window.
“No, not tomorrow.”
Mara watched her sister’s free hand open and close.
“He may have a key.”
A pause.
“Yes, I understand the policy.”
Another pause.
“No, I don’t care what the fee is.”
Mara looked down at the monitor.
The baby’s heart rate traced steadily across the paper.
She placed both hands over her stomach and tried to separate what was happening inside her body from what might be happening twelve miles away.
Daniel entering Lena’s building.
Daniel lifting the ceramic frog.
Daniel discovering the spare key.
Daniel standing in Lena’s kitchen.
Her imagination supplied details with cruel efficiency.
The yellow dish towel hanging from the oven handle.
The bowl of clementines on the counter.
The framed photograph of the sisters at Lake Erie that Lena had refused to replace even though Mara hated how windblown she looked in it.
Tessa hung up.
“Security saw him leave through the east entrance.”
“When?”
“About ten minutes ago.”
“Was he alone?”
“Yes.”
“Did he get in his car?”
“They can’t confirm that yet.”
Lena covered her phone.
“Maintenance says they need landlord approval.”
“Did you tell them it’s a safety emergency?”
“I did.”
“Ask for the property manager.”
Lena returned to the call.
Mara opened Daniel’s messages again.
No new text.
No missed call.
No accusation.
Silence had always been his most effective way of making her chase him.
After arguments, he could go an entire day without acknowledging her.
By evening, Mara would apologize simply to stop wondering what he was planning.
She locked the phone.
Not this time.
Priya entered with a small cup and several labels.
“We need a urine sample when you can.”
Mara stared at the cup.
Lena looked at it too.
May you like
For half a second, nobody said anything.
Then Mara laughed.
