Chương 5
“I saw the ambulance leave the house.”
Claire said nothing.
Margaret continued without looking at her.
“I followed in another car. They wouldn't let me ride with you. Daniel was already inside. There was blood on his shirt.”
Claire's attention sharpened.
“Whose?”
Margaret turned back.
“Yours.”
A memory flickered.
Daniel's hands beneath her shoulders.
His voice shouting.
Not outside the room.
After.
Claire shut her eyes.
Smoke.
A hallway.
Cold air.
Someone crying.
Daniel.
She opened her eyes.
“Did he carry me out?”
Margaret nodded.
Cole said, “Firefighter testimony indicates Daniel was in the east corridor when they removed Claire from the west wing. He helped move her from the interior landing before EMS took over.”
Claire looked at Cole.
“You didn't tell me that.”
“You hadn't asked.”
“That's a terrible answer.”
“It's an accurate one.”
Margaret seized on it.
“You see? Your husband saved your life.”
Claire looked at her.
“And maybe locked the door first.”
Margaret's face closed again.
“That makes no sense.”
“No,” Claire said. “It doesn't.”
That was the problem.
Daniel could have wanted her dead.
Daniel could have tried to save her.
Both could not be comfortably true.
But human beings were not comfortable.
Claire knew that much.
She had loved Daniel even while imagining leaving him.
Maybe contradiction was not evidence of innocence.
Maybe it was the only honest evidence they had.
Cole stood.
“We'll continue ashore.”
Claire looked at Maya.
“How soon can I leave the yacht?”
“As soon as we dock, if you can tolerate transport.”
“I can.”
“You don't know that.”
“I can tolerate anything with wheels.”
Margaret said, “You are not going to a hotel.”
Claire turned.
Margaret's expression was firm again.
“There are reporters at the marina, at your house in Connecticut, outside Briar House, and outside the Newport hospital. Daniel arranged a private property for you.”
“Daniel isn't arranging anything.”
“Then I will.”
“No.”
Margaret stared at her.
Claire realized she had never simply said no to Margaret without softening it afterward.
No, but maybe.
No, I'm sorry.
No, I don't think so.
No, Daniel and I already planned—
This no stood alone.
Margaret had no furniture for it.
Claire looked at Cole.
“Can the police put me somewhere?”
Cole blinked.
“We're not a travel agency.”
“I know.”
“If you believe you're in immediate danger, we can discuss protective measures.”
“Do you believe I'm in danger?”
He considered the question rather than comforting her.
“I believe we don't yet know why the fire started, why you were in that room, whether the door failed accidentally or was tampered with, or why Daniel's access card was recovered inside.”
Margaret said, “You forgot the part where my son pulled her out.”
“I didn't forget.”
Claire looked at Maya.
“Do you have a guest room?”
Maya laughed before she could stop herself.
“No.”
Claire raised an eyebrow.
Maya sighed.
“Yes.”
Margaret looked appalled.
“You cannot recover from burns in someone's apartment.”
“It's a townhouse.”
“That isn't better.”
“It is if you hate yachts.”
Claire smiled despite herself.
Maya stared at the IV line.
“I cannot believe I'm participating in this.”
Cole said, “For the record, I strongly prefer Dr. Reed's house to any Bennett-controlled property.”
Margaret looked at him.
“You enjoy this.”
“No. I enjoy clarity.”
The yacht entered Newport Harbor shortly after eight.
Claire watched from a leather chair while crew members prepared the gangway.
The harbor was crowded with ordinary morning movement: ferries, workboats, gulls, dockhands, a man in a red jacket carrying a coil of rope. After days inside luxury interiors where every surface seemed designed to avoid evidence of human labor, the sight of someone dragging a trash bin along a pier made Claire feel unexpectedly emotional.
Maya packed medication into a black medical bag.
“You're pale.”
“I was pale before the fire.”
“Paler.”
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome.”
Claire wore loose black pants and an oversized button-down shirt Maya had cut at one shoulder so it would not scrape the bandages. Her hair had been tied back badly because lifting both arms remained impossible.
She caught her reflection in the glass.
The woman staring back looked older than thirty-three.
Not ruined.
Claire refused that word.
Just unfamiliar.
Daniel entered quietly.
Maya stopped packing.
He raised both hands slightly.
“I only want five minutes.”
Claire said, “Three.”
Maya looked at her.
“Stay,” Claire said.
Daniel nodded as if he had no objection.
He stood across from her.
The yacht's movement had steadied in the harbor. Without the storm, the room seemed smaller.
“I heard you're going with Maya.”
“Yes.”
“I think that's a good idea.”
Claire had expected resistance.
The absence of it unsettled her.
Daniel put his hands into his trouser pockets.
“I'm going to cooperate with Cole.”
“That sounds like something lawyers tell innocent people not to announce.”
A tired smile touched his mouth.
“Probably.”
“Why was your card in the study?”
“I don't know.”
“Why did you enter at ten eighteen?”
“I don't remember entering at ten eighteen.”
“But you told me you went to our room around ten.”
“I did.”
“Then the record is wrong or you lied.”
“Yes.”
“Which?”
“I don't know.”
Claire looked at him.
He stepped closer, slowly enough that she had time to object.
She did not.
“I remember going upstairs,” he said. “I remember changing my shirt because Graham spilled wine on me.”
“That sounds very specific.”
“It is.”
“Do you have the shirt?”
“It was sent to laundry.”
“Of course.”
“Claire.”
“What?”
He looked exhausted.
“I am trying.”
“So am I.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't. You get to remember.”
Something moved across his face.
Then he said, “Not everything.”
Maya glanced up.
Claire went still.
“What don't you remember?”
Daniel looked toward Maya, then back.
“The fire.”
“You remember saving me.”
“I remember hearing the alarm. I remember smoke in the corridor. I remember someone yelling that you were inside. Then I remember you on the floor near the stairs.”
May you like
Claire watched him carefully.
“You told the detective that?”
