Chương 7
Victor looked up.
Emma looked down.
The color left his face so completely that he seemed older by ten years.
Behind the child, Karen stepped into view.
Victor whispered her name.
“Karen.”
She pulled Emma behind her.
Marcus watched Victor’s hand close around the door frame.
“Who is she?” Marcus asked.
Victor recovered enough to look offended.
“You know who she resembles.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
The front door remained open. Cold air moved into the foyer.
Victor’s voice hardened.
“You have no idea what you brought into this house.”
“I didn’t bring her.”
“Then send her away.”
“Why?”
“For Lily’s safety.”
Emma’s fingers appeared around Karen’s sleeve.
Marcus stepped closer.
“Say her name.”
Victor looked at him.
“Marcus.”
“Say the child’s name.”
“I don’t know it.”
Emma spoke from behind Karen.
“You do.”
Victor’s gaze returned to her.
Emma’s voice shook, but she continued.
“You came to our apartment when I was little.”
Karen turned.
“What?”
Emma stared at Victor.
“You had a gray coat. Mommy made me hide in the bathtub.”
Victor stepped through the doorway.
Marcus caught his wrist.
It happened without flourish. Victor’s body rotated, surprised by the grip. His coat fell.
For a moment they stood close enough to smell each other’s coffee and cologne.
“Let go,” Victor said.
“Did you go to their apartment?”
“No.”
“Did you know Emma was alive?”
“No.”
The first answer had been sharp. The second arrived too fast.
Marcus released him.
Victor rubbed his wrist.
“You’re making a mistake.”
Marcus looked past him at the idling sedan.
“Probably.”
Victor bent for his coat.
“You have until tonight to send Karen and the child to me.”
Karen made a small sound behind Marcus.
He kept his eyes on Victor.
“Or what?”
“Or the people who already found them will decide you cannot be trusted to manage this.”
“Which people?”
Victor straightened.
“The ones who kept your daughter alive while your wife lost her mind.”
Emma flinched.
Marcus hit him.
The blow landed at the corner of Victor’s mouth and drove him against the open door. It was not the hardest Marcus could have struck. That made it worse. The violence was deliberate, measured, chosen.
Lily screamed from the stairs.
Marcus stopped.
Victor touched his split lip. When he looked at Marcus again, affection and hatred occupied the same face.
“There he is,” Victor said.
He left.
The sedan pulled away before anyone spoke.
Lily stood beside Emma now. Her eyes were wide and wet.
Marcus looked at his hand.
He had struck men in front of adults, rivals, police, employees, priests, and judges. Never in front of Lily.
She backed up when he approached.
Only one step.
It was enough.
“I’m sorry,” Marcus said.
Lily’s lower lip trembled.
“You said you don’t yell.”
“I didn’t.”
Karen gave him a disgusted look.
He almost told her that was not what Lily meant. The defense formed because he wanted it, not because it was true.
He lowered himself onto the bottom stair.
“I should not have hit him.”
“Is Uncle Victor bad?”
“I don’t know everything he has done.”
“You hit him because he was bad.”
“I hit him because I was angry.”
“That’s worse.”
Marcus looked at his seven-year-old daughter and had no answer.
Emma sat beside Lily. She whispered something Marcus could not hear. Lily wiped her face with the heel of her hand.
Evelyn entered the foyer holding her phone.
“Victor’s car has been picked up by Jonah’s team,” she said. Then she saw Lily. “What happened?”
“Your client improved the situation,” Karen said.
Evelyn looked at Marcus’s knuckles and closed her eyes.
“Of course he did.”
Marcus stood.
“Victor knew Emma.”
“That does not make assault useful.”
“He threatened the girls.”
“Then we document it. We do not provide him with evidence that you are unstable, violent, and unsuitable for custody.”
The last word reached Lily.
“Custody?”
Evelyn’s expression changed.
Marcus turned to his daughter.
“No one is taking you anywhere.”
“You don’t know that,” Karen said.
He looked at her.
She held his stare.
Evelyn stepped between them again.
“Both of you stop. The children can hear every word.”
Emma whispered, “We always can.”
That quiet sentence silenced the room.
Jonah returned before four.
The apartment on West Addison had been searched. No people remained inside. Clothing, food, and bedding had been disturbed. A cheap laptop was missing. So were two phones and a canvas bag Karen said belonged to Grace. The door showed no forced entry because whoever entered had used a key.
Jonah brought photographs rather than objects. Evelyn had insisted nothing be removed until law enforcement could decide whether to process the scene.
One photograph showed the kitchen table. A glass had been overturned, leaving a dried ring. A chair lay on its side. Near the baseboard, almost hidden beneath a radiator, was one green plastic button.
Karen stared at it.
“That was Grace’s coat.”
“Could it have fallen earlier?” Evelyn asked.
“No. She fixed that button on Tuesday. The thread was white because we didn’t have green.”
The photograph showed a strand of white thread still attached.
Marcus looked at Jonah.
“Cameras?”
“The building’s hallway system has been disabled since last month. A grocery store across the street caught part of the entrance. We’re obtaining a copy.”
“Obtaining lawfully,” Evelyn said.
Jonah’s expression suggested a private definition of the word.
Evelyn continued.
“I have spoken to Daniel Cho. He was a federal prosecutor. He now handles corporate investigations and negotiated cooperation. He will meet us at seven.”
Karen shook her head.
“No federal agents.”
“Grace may have been abducted,” Evelyn said. “You cannot find her alone.”
“Neither can they. They’ll ask who Marcus is, what he’s done, why Grace was afraid. Then they’ll use us against him or him against us.”
“That is frequently how investigations work.”
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Emma sat on the rug with Lily. The girls had arranged glass horses around the teddy bear as if forming a defensive perimeter.
Marcus watched them.
