Chương 7
He had never noticed.
At seven, Rachel arrived with a laptop, three charging cables, a grocery bag, and the expression of someone who had decided not to ask permission.
Daniel opened the door.
“I told you I wasn’t working tonight.”
“I’m not here for work.”
She lifted the grocery bag.
“I brought food because your refrigerator is full of ingredients and nothing a ten-year-old will willingly eat.”
From the kitchen, Sophie called, “There’s pizza.”
Rachel raised her eyebrows.
Daniel said, “Apparently there’s pizza.”
The frozen pizza had expired two months earlier.
Rachel ordered fresh pizza.
While they waited, she sat with Sophie at the breakfast nook and discussed a school project involving state capitals.
Daniel listened from the kitchen.
Sophie knew almost every answer.
When Rachel asked the capital of Nevada, Sophie said Las Vegas.
Rachel said, “That’s what Nevada wants you to think.”
Sophie frowned.
“Carson City.”
“Oh.”
A tiny laugh escaped her.
Daniel stood at the sink holding a glass.
He did not turn around.
He did not want Sophie to catch him watching her be normal.
After dinner, he found Sophie standing outside the guest room.
“Where do you want to sleep?” he asked.
“My room.”
“All right.”
She did not move.
Daniel waited.
“Can Noah sleep in there?”
“He has a crib in the nursery.”
“I know.”
“You want the crib moved?”
Sophie nodded.
Daniel looked down the hallway.
“It’s heavy.”
“I can help.”
“No.”
Her face changed immediately.
Daniel corrected himself.
“I mean you don’t have to help. Marcus and I can move it.”
“Oh.”
He called Marcus.
Twenty minutes later, Noah’s crib stood beside Sophie’s bed.
The furniture did not fit.
The room looked crowded.
Daniel left it that way.
At nine thirty, Sophie was still awake.
Daniel sat in the hallway outside her open door with his laptop closed beside him.
She had not asked him to stay.
He had not asked permission.
He simply sat where she could see him if she looked.
At ten twelve, she said, “Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Are the police going to put Vanessa in jail?”
“I don’t know.”
“Would you tell me if you did?”
“Yes.”
She rolled onto her side.
“Okay.”
A minute passed.
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see everything on the camera?”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“No. I saw part of today.”
“Can you see old days?”
“I think the system saves recordings. The police are going to check.”
Sophie pulled the blanket closer.
“What if it shows me doing something bad?”
He looked into the room.
“What kind of bad thing?”
“I yelled at Noah once.”
Daniel said nothing.
“He wouldn’t stop crying. I yelled ‘stop.’ Really loud.”
Her voice cracked.
Daniel stood and entered only as far as the doorway.
“Sophie, being frustrated with a crying baby is not the same as hurting him.”
“I scared him.”
“You were taking care of an infant when you shouldn’t have had to.”
She looked at the wall.
“I dropped a bottle too.”
“I saw.”
“It was glass.”
“I know.”
“Mom liked those bottles.”
Daniel looked down.
Caroline had insisted on glass because she hated the smell of warm plastic.
He had forgotten.
Sophie had not.
“I’m not angry about the bottle.”
“You looked angry.”
“I was angry at Vanessa.”
“You looked at me.”
Daniel sat on the floor outside the room again.
“I’m going to have to learn how not to make you guess who I’m angry at.”
Sophie did not answer.
A few minutes later, she fell asleep.
Daniel stayed in the hallway until nearly midnight.
Then he went downstairs and found Rachel still at the dining table.
“You should go home.”
She looked at him.
“So should you.”
He almost told her this was his house.
He understood the joke before saying it.
Rachel closed her laptop.
“I canceled tomorrow.”
“You canceled what?”
“Your day.”
“I have the lender call.”
“Not anymore.”
“The Chicago team—”
“Moved.”
“The compensation meeting?”
“Friday.”
Daniel looked annoyed.
Rachel waited.
Eventually he said, “Thank you.”
She stood.
“There’s something you need to know.”
He looked at her.
“Vanessa called me twice tonight.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“What did she want?”
“She asked whether anyone at the company had seen the security footage.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing. I didn’t answer.”
Daniel nodded.
Rachel picked up her bag.
“Then she emailed.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“What did she say?”
“That this is a private family misunderstanding and distributing video could be defamatory.”
Daniel almost laughed.
Rachel did not.
“She’s thinking about reputation already.”
“So are you.”
He looked at her.
“You asked me an hour ago whether anyone at the board meeting had recorded your phone screen.”
Daniel felt irritation rise.
Rachel continued.
“I’m not judging you. I’m reminding you that your instinct is the same because that’s the world you live in.”
Daniel looked toward the staircase.
“It can’t become Sophie’s world.”
“No.”
After Rachel left, he opened a drawer beside the dining room.
It jammed halfway.
Another drawer.
Another thing he had not noticed.
He spent twenty minutes fixing it.
It served no purpose.
The drawer did not matter.
The children did.
Still, when it slid smoothly closed, Daniel stood there with a screwdriver in his hand and felt briefly less useless.
The detective arrived the following morning.
Her name was Monica Hale.
She was forty-four, wore a navy blazer over plain clothes, and did not seem impressed by the size of the house.
She interviewed Daniel first.
He expected questions about Vanessa.
Instead she asked about him.
When had he last personally taken Sophie to school?
Daniel checked his calendar.
Three weeks.
When had he last attended Noah’s pediatric appointment?
Six weeks.
Who controlled the household schedule?
Vanessa.
Who had authority to discipline Sophie?
Daniel paused.
“We never formally discussed that.”
Hale looked at him.
“That’s not an answer.”
“I allowed Vanessa to set rules.”
“What rules?”
“I don’t know all of them.”
The detective wrote something.
Daniel hated the sound of her pen.
May you like
She asked about finances.
Vanessa had a household credit card.
