Chương 7
Daniel straightened.
He had gone to Akron for a two-day training seminar five weeks earlier.
Claire had watched the girls on his custody days because Laura had been attending a conference in Boston.
“How long were you outside?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it dark?”
“No.”
“Were you wet?”
Maya was silent.
Daniel heard Laura say something too softly to make out.
Then Maya said, “I don’t want questions.”
His chest tightened.
“Okay.”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Okay.”
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not mad.”
He swallowed.
“Okay.”
“But I don’t want to come to your house yet.”
Daniel stared at the patio door.
“Okay.”
After they hung up, he sat without moving for almost an hour.
He had thought guilt would feel like pain.
Mostly it felt like wanting to argue with facts.
On Monday, Claire’s lawyer sent an email asking Daniel not to dispose of or withhold her property and requesting a time for her to collect personal belongings.
Daniel hired a lawyer that afternoon.
He hated paying the retainer.
Not because he thought lawyers were unnecessary.
Because eight thousand dollars had been earmarked for a new roof.
He stared at the bank transfer confirmation and thought absurdly about shingles.
His attorney, Melissa Grant, was practical to the point of irritation.
“Do not text Claire about the facts.”
“She keeps texting me.”
“Don’t engage.”
“What if she admits something?”
“Send it to the detective. Don’t bait her.”
“I wasn’t going to bait her.”
Melissa gave him a look.
Daniel said, “Fine.”
“Also, the children should not be at the house when Claire collects belongings.”
“They won’t.”
“Good.”
“Can I change the locks after?”
“Maybe. We need to confirm the occupancy situation and any orders currently in place.”
Daniel leaned back.
“Why is every answer maybe?”
“Because you hired a lawyer, not a magician.”
He almost smiled.
The retrieval happened Wednesday afternoon.
Claire arrived with Rachel and a moving van.
A patrol officer was present for what Daniel’s attorney called a civil standby.
Daniel stayed mostly in the kitchen.
Claire walked through the rooms placing clothes, toiletries, books, and small furniture into boxes. It took longer than anyone expected because shared lives were inconvenient to separate.
At one point she held up a ceramic bowl.
“My grandmother gave us this.”
Daniel looked at it.
“No. She gave you that.”
Claire nodded.
“Right.”
She wrapped it in newspaper.
Ten minutes later she asked whether he wanted the blue towels.
Daniel stared at her.
“Take whatever towels you want.”
“I’m asking because you bought them.”
“They’re towels, Claire.”
Her face tightened.
The officer looked at the floor.
Claire put the towels in a box.
When she reached the framed photograph from their trip to Maine, she stopped.
In the picture, Daniel had one arm around Claire and the other around Maya. Sophie stood in front wearing a lobster hat she had refused to remove for two days.
Claire touched the glass.
“Do you really think all of this was fake?”
Daniel did not answer.
“I loved them.”
He looked at her.
“I think you did.”
The words surprised both of them.
Claire’s eyes filled.
“Then how can you think I hurt them?”
Daniel leaned against the counter.
“Those things can both be true.”
Claire shook her head.
“No. They can’t.”
“Yes.”
“No, Daniel. If I loved them, I wasn’t abusing them.”
The officer glanced toward them.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“You locked them in the backyard.”
“For minutes.”
“Why did you turn off the camera?”
Claire looked away.
He waited.
“I hated you watching me.”
“I never watched you.”
“The camera was there.”
“It was there for the pool.”
“It still felt like you could check.”
“So you disabled it.”
“Sometimes.”
“On four afternoons.”
Her face changed.
Daniel felt the room become very quiet.
Claire looked at him.
“Four?”
He said nothing.
She understood.
“You went through the logs.”
“They’re my logs too.”
Claire set the photograph down.
“This is sick.”
“What is?”
“You’re treating me like a criminal.”
“The police are investigating.”
“Because you called them.”
“I didn’t.”
She stared at him.
Daniel realized she had not known.
“The clinic reported it.”
Claire’s mouth opened slightly.
Then she sat down at the table.
For the first time since this began, she looked frightened in a way that had nothing to do with losing Daniel.
“I didn’t hurt them.”
Daniel did not respond.
She rubbed her forehead.
“I grabbed Maya because she was trying to unlock the side door.”
The sentence came so quietly that at first he did not understand it.
Then he did.
He looked at her.
Claire froze.
Rachel, standing in the hallway with a box of shoes, said, “Claire.”
The patrol officer turned toward them.
Daniel’s heart started pounding.
He wanted to ask a hundred questions.
His lawyer’s voice returned to him.
Don’t bait her.
Daniel stayed silent.
Claire stood.
“I mean yesterday. The key. I told you.”
“No,” Daniel said. “You said she was reaching for something.”
“That’s what I meant.”
He felt anger trying to pull him forward.
He held his place.
Claire looked toward the officer.
“I’m done talking.”
The officer nodded.
“That’s probably wise.”
Rachel whispered, “Get your coat.”
Claire collected the remaining boxes without looking at Daniel.
At the door, she turned back.
For a second he thought she might apologize.
Instead she said, “You’ll regret letting Laura decide who you are.”
Then she left.
Daniel gave the patrol officer’s information to Detective Brooks and told her exactly what Claire had said.
“Did anyone record it?” Brooks asked.
“The officer had a body camera. I don’t know if it was on.”
“We’ll handle that.”
Daniel felt a rush of satisfaction.
It disappeared almost immediately.
Brooks must have heard it in his voice anyway.
“Don’t build the ending around one sentence.”
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
He sat down.
May you like
Brooks continued, “A statement matters in context. So do the children’s accounts. So do records. So does everything else.”
Daniel looked at the empty space where Claire’s shoes had been.
