Chương 3
His phone vibrated continuously. Family messages filled the screen.
What happened?
Why did police take Mom?
Call me now.
You embarrassed her in front of everyone.
Mason says this is being misunderstood.
A photograph had already appeared in the family group chat. Teresa stood beside the ambulance in handcuffs, burgundy dress bright beneath the emergency lights. The angle made her look small. Someone had added, This is what he did to his own mother.
Connor turned the phone facedown.
Amy watched him.
“Who is it?”
“Everybody.”
“What are they saying?”
“Nothing useful.”
She nodded as though that confirmed something she had expected.
A hospital social worker named Nina arrived twenty minutes later. She wore soft gray shoes and carried a tablet she rarely looked at. She asked Connor to wait in the hall while she spoke to Amy alone.
Amy’s fingers closed around the edge of the chair.
“He can stay.”
Nina pulled up another chair. “I need to ask you some questions privately. That’s standard when someone may not feel safe at home.”
“I’m safe with him.”
Connor felt gratitude first, then shame at feeling it.
“I’ll be outside,” he said.
The hallway had pale walls and a floor polished enough to reflect the overhead lights. Connor sat beneath a television playing a cooking show with captions. A chef arranged roasted vegetables while a woman across from him bounced a sleeping toddler on her knee. A vending machine hummed. Somewhere beyond the double doors, a cart squeaked at regular intervals.
Connor called his supervisor.
Malik answered on the second ring. “You fix that drainage note?”
“My son’s in the hospital.”
The silence shifted. “What happened?”
“I don’t know yet. He’s sick. Amy too. There was—my mother was arrested.”
Malik exhaled slowly. “All right.”
“I won’t be in tomorrow.”
“I figured.”
“I can send the revised calculations tonight.”
“No, you can’t.”
“The concrete subcontractor needs them.”
“Connor.”
He stopped.
Malik lowered his voice. “Is your kid breathing?”
“Yes.”
“Then stay where you are. I’ll have Priya check the note.”
Connor rubbed his jaw. “I should’ve checked it before I left.”
“You probably should’ve. Priya will still check it.”
The bluntness helped more than reassurance would have.
“I may need a few days.”
“Take tomorrow. Call me after that. We have deadlines, and I’m not going to lie about them, but we’ll deal with one day at a time.”
When the call ended, Connor looked through the narrow window in Frederick’s door.
Amy sat with Nina, her shoulders tense, answering a question Connor could not hear. She glanced toward the glass and saw him. For one second, she looked embarrassed.
He stepped away.
The lead police officer arrived near midnight. His name was Sergeant Daniel Reed. Without the noise of the party around him, he seemed less physically imposing, though his manner remained exact.
He told Connor that Teresa had been taken for processing after being medically cleared. The immediate charge related to shoving an officer. Other allegations would require investigation. Mason had not been arrested yet, but officers had detained and interviewed him. The folder had been logged as evidence.
“The deed doesn’t transfer ownership by being in someone else’s jacket,” Reed said. “But the other documents raise questions. A detective will contact you.”
Connor nodded.
Reed looked through the window toward Amy. “Is she able to speak with me tonight?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s her decision.”
The correction was gentle, but Connor felt it.
He went inside and asked Amy. She said yes, then no, then asked whether Teresa could hear what she said. Reed explained that Teresa was not at the hospital and that Amy did not have to complete a statement immediately.
Amy stared at the fluid bag beside Frederick.
“She didn’t hit him,” she said.
“No one said she did,” Reed replied.
“She never hit me either.”
Connor looked at the bruise near her elbow.
Amy noticed. “That was the pantry door.”
Reed did not challenge her. “Tell me about today.”
For nearly a minute, Amy said nothing.
Then she started with the coffee.
Teresa had arrived at seven that morning with caterers and relatives. Frederick had been feverish during the night. Amy had told Teresa she intended to take him to urgent care if the fever did not improve. Teresa said the party had already cost thousands of dollars and accused Amy of trying to ruin it because she resented Connor’s family.
Amy had called the pediatric clinic. Before a nurse returned the message, Teresa took the phone from the counter.
“She said I was making myself hysterical,” Amy said. “She said I always do that. She put the phone in her purse so I could focus.”
Connor’s hands tightened between his knees.
Amy continued. She had tried to feed Frederick, but he vomited. Teresa said guests were arriving and ordered Amy to change his romper. When Amy said she needed to lie down, Teresa reminded her that the mortgage existed only because of Teresa’s money.
Reed asked, “What money?”
Amy looked at Connor.
He did not move.
“Down-payment money,” she said. “Before we bought the house.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
Connor did.
Teresa had given him sixty-five thousand dollars six years earlier, after the sale of a small repair shop his father had owned. She called it an advance on what would eventually be his. Connor had asked whether she needed paperwork. She had laughed and told him not to insult her. Two years later, after his father died and Teresa discovered fewer assets than she expected, she began calling the money a loan.
Connor had never told Amy that part.
Reed asked when Teresa first claimed an ownership interest in the house.
Amy’s voice grew quieter. “Maybe last year. At first she joked. Then she said Connor had cheated her. She said if we divorced, I’d take the house and leave him with nothing.”
May you like
“Did she ask either of you to sign property documents?”
Amy shook her head, then stopped. “She had papers once. She said they were for insurance.”
