Chương 9
Vincent leaned forward.
She waved him off.
"Don't."
He sat back.
"What about walking?"
"Fourteen months."
"Late?"
"Normal."
"Did she fall?"
"Constantly."
"Was she afraid?"
"Never."
Elena looked toward the ceiling.
"That was the problem."
Vincent smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
He had missed all of it.
Not abstract years.
Specific things.
Dog.
No.
Cookie.
First steps.
Night drives.
Falls on carpet.
Fevers.
Birthday candles.
Tiny shoes abandoned in hallways.
He pressed his thumb against his palm until the thought became manageable.
Elena noticed anyway.
"Don't make yourself into a victim."
He looked at her.
"I'm trying not to."
"Good."
"That doesn't mean I don't get to feel something."
"No."
Her voice softened.
"It doesn't."
Morning came gray through the hospital window.
Vincent had slept for perhaps twenty minutes with his head tilted against the wall.
When he opened his eyes, Elena was watching him.
"You snore."
He frowned.
"I do not."
"Construction."
He stared.
Her mouth moved.
For one second, she looked almost like the woman who had once thrown his phone into soup.
Then her face became serious again.
"You're wearing the same shirt."
"So are you."
"I'm in a hospital gown."
"Technicality."
"You look terrible."
"You look worse."
She raised one eyebrow.
Vincent winced.
"That came out wrong."
"It came out accurately."
The nurse arrived to check Elena's vitals.
Her fever had come down.
The antibiotics appeared to be working.
No one used the word safe.
Vincent appreciated that.
At seven twelve, Sophie appeared with Mr. Chen and a paper bag of sesame bagels.
Her hair was brushed badly.
Vincent suspected Mr. Chen had tried.
"Mom."
Elena opened both arms.
Sophie climbed carefully beside her.
Vincent looked away.
Some moments were not his yet.
Mr. Chen handed him a coffee.
"Black."
Vincent took it.
"How did you know?"
"You look like man who thinks milk is weakness."
Marco, arriving behind them, laughed.
Vincent turned.
"Why are you here?"
Marco held up another coffee.
"Apparently unnecessarily."
Mr. Chen looked at Marco.
"You olive man?"
Marco stopped.
"Excuse me?"
Sophie giggled.
Vincent took visible pleasure in this.
"Yes."
Marco stared at him.
"You've been discussing me?"
"Only your weaknesses."
Mr. Chen handed Marco a bagel.
"Eat."
"I already had breakfast."
"Then eat second breakfast."
Marco accepted it.
Vincent leaned toward him.
"You obey him quickly."
"He has a bag of carbohydrates."
"Coward."
Sophie climbed down from the bed.
"Can we do the DNA thing today?"
The humor vanished.
Elena looked at Vincent.
"We don't have to."
Sophie frowned.
"But I want to know."
Elena's face tightened.
Vincent kept his voice gentle.
"It's okay to wait."
"Why?"
"Because sometimes answers change things."
"Will it change Mom?"
"No."
"Will it change you?"
He hesitated.
"Probably."
"Bad?"
"I don't know."
Sophie considered him.
Then she looked at Elena.
"Do you know?"
Elena swallowed.
"I think I do."
"Then I want to know too."
No one spoke.
Sophie folded her arms.
Vincent almost smiled.
Elena saw it.
"Do not encourage that face."
"What face?"
"That is your face."
Sophie looked delighted.
"Really?"
Elena rubbed her forehead.
"This is already a disaster."
The test was arranged through the hospital's social worker rather than one of Vincent's private contacts.
Elena insisted on that.
Vincent agreed.
The social worker explained that an accredited laboratory could collect cheek swabs from both Vincent and Sophie, with identification and documented handling if they wanted results that might later be usable for legal purposes.
The word legal made Elena tense.
Vincent noticed.
"We're not doing custody paperwork today."
The social worker looked between them.
"I wasn't suggesting that."
"I know."
Elena gave him a look.
"You sound like you're ordering room service."
"I am trying to be reassuring."
"Work harder."
Sophie opened her mouth.
Both adults looked at her.
She closed it again.
"What?"
Vincent asked.
"I was going to say something."
"Say it."
"No."
"Why?"
"Mom says sometimes I should let grown-ups finish being dumb."
Elena covered her face.
Marco turned toward the window.
Mr. Chen laughed loudly enough that a nurse looked in.
Vincent nodded.
"Useful advice."
The swabs took less than a minute.
Sophie complained that hers tickled.
Vincent's felt absurdly simple.
A cotton swab against the inside of his cheek might determine whether the entire shape of his life had been wrong.
The technician sealed the samples separately.
Elena watched every movement.
Vincent did too.
"How long?" he asked.
"Usually two business days for this laboratory."
Sophie groaned.
"That's forever."
"You're six," Elena said.
"Everything is forever."
By afternoon, Elena was stronger.
Dr. Patel said she would likely remain another night.
Vincent finally agreed to leave long enough to shower and meet with his own cardiologist.
Elena seemed relieved.
Sophie did not.
"Are you coming back?"
Vincent paused at the door.
"If your mom says I can."
Sophie immediately looked at Elena.
Elena closed her eyes.
"Yes."
"See?"
Vincent said.
Elena pointed toward the hallway.
"Go."
Marco accompanied him to the car.
Neither spoke until the doors closed.
Then Marco handed Vincent his phone.
"Problem."
Vincent looked at the screen.
A photograph showed him entering Elena's apartment building the previous afternoon.
Another showed Sophie holding his hand outside the hospital.
The headline beneath them was worse.
MORETTI'S SECRET FAMILY?
Vincent's expression went flat.
"Where did this come from?"
"Celebrity-crime blog picked it up twenty minutes ago."
"Who gave them the photos?"
"Working on it."
Vincent enlarged the image.
Sophie's face was visible.
Very visible.
His stomach turned.
"Get it down."
"We can pressure them."
"No threats."
Marco looked at him.
"I didn't say threats."
"You were thinking it."
"I was thinking copyright complaint."
"Since when are you civilized?"
"Since your daughter became six years old."
Vincent looked at him.
Marco realized what he'd said.
Neither corrected it.
Vincent's phone rang.
Elena.
He answered immediately.
"Did you see it?"
"Yes."
Her breathing sounded wrong again, but this time it was anger.
"They put her face online."
"I know."
"How did they know?"
May you like
"I don't know yet."
"Your people followed us."
