Chương 7
“What does that mean?” he asked.
Claire was quiet.
“Claire.”
“It means Evan didn’t just leave.”
Daniel looked toward the interview room.
Lena was watching him through the glass.
She had stopped organizing the folders.
She was waiting.
Not listening.
Waiting.
“He was running from something,” Claire said.
“From what?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said someone helped him disappear.”
“I said someone helped him disappear.”
The distinction irritated him.
“You always do that.”
“Do what?”
“Say something that sounds like an answer and then tell me it isn’t.”
Claire breathed out.
“I’m still the same person, Daniel.”
“No.”
The word came faster than he expected.
“No, you’re not.”
Silence.
He immediately regretted the sharpness of it, but he did not take it back.
For years, he had imagined this conversation.
He had imagined yelling.
He had imagined demanding explanations.
He had imagined Claire breaking down and admitting she was wrong.
He had never imagined her sounding tired.
“You should come before I explain this badly over the phone,” she said.
“I’m already here.”
“Where?”
“The station.”
Another pause.
“Oh.”
That single word carried too much.
Fear.
Surprise.
Maybe guilt.
“You knew they called me.”
“Yes.”
“And you waited until after.”
“Yes.”
Daniel turned away from the window.
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid you would hear the first part and stop listening before you heard the rest.”
He almost said that she did not know him anymore.
But she did.
That was the problem.
“Get here,” he said.
“I’m coming.”
The call ended.
Daniel stood there for another moment with the phone in his hand.
Then he noticed Lena beside him.
He had not heard her approach.
“She’s coming,” Daniel said.
“I assumed.”
“You heard?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Then how?”
Lena glanced toward the entrance.
“People waiting for someone usually stand facing the door.”
Daniel looked away.
It was an ordinary observation.
Somehow, it made him uncomfortable.
He walked outside before she could say anything else.
The air was colder now.
The rain had left the parking lot covered in thin reflections from the overhead lights.
His truck sat where he left it.
For thirteen years, he had driven that truck past places that reminded him of Evan.
The gas station where Evan once spilled coffee on the hood.
The road where they used to race bicycles as teenagers.
The hardware store that had closed and become a furniture warehouse.
He had avoided those places without admitting he was avoiding them.
A person could build an entire life around what they refused to look at.
He sat on the hood of the truck.
A few minutes later, the station doors opened.
Claire stepped outside.
Daniel almost did not recognize her.
Not because she looked different.
Because he had spent so many years remembering a version of her that no longer existed.
The Claire in his memory was twenty-eight.
Quick.
Restless.
Always carrying too many papers and asking questions nobody wanted to answer.
The woman walking toward him had gray at her temples.
A tired expression.
A jacket she kept pulling tighter even though the temperature was not that low.
She stopped several feet away.
Neither of them moved.
“You look tired,” she said.
Daniel gave a short laugh.
“That’s your first sentence?”
“I had several worse ones prepared.”
Despite everything, his mouth almost turned upward.
Almost.
Claire noticed.
“You still do that.”
“Do what?”
“Almost smile when you’re angry.”
“I’m not angry.”
She looked at him.
Daniel looked away.
“Okay.”
The honesty annoyed him.
“You haven’t changed.”
“No.”
She folded her arms.
“I have.”
“You just said you haven’t.”
“I said I’m still the same person.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
A small silence passed.
Claire looked at the station.
“Is she inside?”
“Officer Ortiz.”
“She seems smart.”
Daniel studied her.
“You know her?”
“No.”
“Then why say that?”
“Because smart people make me nervous.”
That surprised him.
Claire had always been the person who walked into uncomfortable rooms like she owned them.
“You’re nervous?”
“Yes.”
The answer was immediate.
Too immediate to be fake.
“Why?”
Claire looked at the ground.
“Because I don’t know if I’m about to fix something or destroy whatever peace you built.”
Daniel had no response.
That was the problem with Claire.
She could still find the sentence he was not prepared to answer.
They went back inside together.
The movement felt strange.
Like walking beside someone from a life he had lost.
Lena met them near the hallway.
“Claire Holloway?”
“Yes.”
“I need a statement.”
Claire nodded.
“I know.”
“But before we start, I need to be clear.”
Claire looked at her.
“About what?”
“The information you provided is not enough by itself to prove what happened.”
Claire’s expression tightened.
“I know.”
“You believe Evan was assisted after leaving.”
“Yes.”
“By who?”
Claire looked at Daniel.
That was enough.
Daniel felt something cold move through him.
“Claire.”
She looked back at Lena.
“I don’t know.”
“Then why look at Daniel?”
“Because he deserves to hear what I found before anyone else decides what it means.”
Lena studied both of them.
“Okay.”
She opened the interview room door.
“Then let’s start there.”
They sat down.
Daniel noticed Claire chose the chair farthest from the door.
She always did that.
A small thing.
A useless thing.
But he remembered.
Claire noticed him noticing.
“You still remember that?”
“Remember what?”
“You always watched people’s habits.”
Daniel shrugged.
“Occupational hazard.”
“You’re not a detective.”
“No.”
He looked at the table.
“I repair machines.”
Claire nodded.
“You always liked broken things.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is.”
“No.”
Daniel tapped his fingers against the table.
“I liked things that could be fixed.”
Claire looked at him for a long moment.
“That’s what I said.”
Lena sat across from them.
“Tell me about the day Evan disappeared.”
Daniel stiffened.
Claire looked down.
“I’ve told this story before.”
“Tell it again.”
“Why?”
“Because people tell the same story differently after enough time.”
May you like
Claire glanced at Daniel.
“And because now we have new information.”
