Chương 11
"Not often."
"How often did you know he visited?"
Mark's eyes narrowed.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means I'm asking a precise question."
He looked away.
"Maybe once every couple of months."
"With you present?"
"Usually."
"Usually isn't always."
Mark's jaw tightened.
"No."
Shaw waited.
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Daniel had a key."
Elena looked at him.
Shaw asked, "Why?"
"He helped oversee renovations before Clara was born."
"And afterward?"
"I forgot he had it."
"Did your wife know?"
"Probably."
"Did security logs record entries?"
Mark's face changed.
"Yes."
Shaw noticed immediately.
"Where are those records?"
"Cloud account tied to the gate system."
"Who has access?"
"Me, Victoria, the security company."
"Anyone else?"
"Daniel may still have an old login."
Shaw took out her phone.
Mark nodded.
Then stopped.
"If he used his own code, it would show him."
"If the records haven't been deleted."
"He couldn't delete them."
"Could your wife?"
Mark looked at her.
"Yes."
Shaw stepped aside and made a call.
Elena watched Mark stand beneath the fluorescent lights with both hands on his hips.
His face had gone pale.
"Did you know?"
He was looking at her.
Elena frowned.
"About Daniel?"
"Did you ever see him here when I wasn't?"
She searched her memory.
Daniel Mercer was taller than Mark, thinner, with an easy smile that made people feel included whether he meant it or not.
He had been friendly with Elena in a way Mark never quite was, asking questions about her family and remembering Marisol's name.
She had liked him.
That memory now embarrassed her.
"Twice."
Mark's eyes sharpened.
"When?"
"Last summer."
"Dates?"
"I don't remember."
"Think."
Elena stiffened.
"I am thinking."
Mark closed his eyes briefly.
"Sorry."
She looked toward Clara's room.
"One time was a weekday because I was changing the sheets in the guest room."
"What happened?"
"He came in through the kitchen."
"With Victoria?"
"No."
"Then?"
"He asked if she was home."
"And was she?"
"Yes."
"Did he stay?"
"I don't know."
Mark stared at her.
"You don't know?"
"I was working."
She heard the edge in her own voice and did not soften it.
"I don't follow your relatives around the house."
He looked away.
"The second time?"
"It was evening."
"Was I traveling?"
"I think so."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Mark gave a frustrated breath.
Elena's anger rose.
"You traveled every other week."
"I know."
"Then don't look at me like I should have kept records."
"I'm not."
"You are."
He opened his mouth and shut it.
She rubbed the side of her wrist brace.
"I saw Daniel leaving through the side entrance."
"What time?"
"Late."
"How late?"
"After nine."
"Why were you still there?"
"Clara had a fever."
Mark's face shifted.
He remembered that night.
"You called me."
"Yes."
"You said Victoria went to bed."
"She did."
Elena hesitated.
At least, that was what Victoria had told her.
Mark saw it.
"What?"
"I never checked."
"Checked what?"
"Whether she was actually asleep."
His eyes hardened.
"Was Daniel upstairs?"
"I don't know."
Mark turned away and pressed both hands against the back of his head.
Elena watched him struggle with the urge to turn uncertainty into certainty.
"Don't."
He looked at her.
"Don't what?"
"Make me a witness to things I didn't see."
His arms dropped.
The words landed.
"I'm sorry."
She nodded once.
Shaw returned.
"The gate company is preserving records."
Mark gave a bitter laugh.
"Assuming they still exist."
"Assuming."
She looked at Elena.
"Bethany says she saw Daniel and Victoria arguing in the nursery when Clara was about eleven months old."
Mark went still again.
"What were they saying?"
"She couldn't hear everything."
"Then what could she hear?"
"Your wife said, 'You don't get to disappear and still have an opinion.'"
Mark's eyes closed.
Shaw continued.
"Daniel reportedly answered, 'I never asked you to keep it.'"
Elena felt her stomach drop.
Mark opened his eyes.
"No."
Shaw did not react.
"Bethany assumed they were talking about Clara."
"Assumed."
"Yes."
"That's not proof."
"No."
"Good."
Mark looked almost relieved by the word.
Shaw continued.
"Several weeks later, Bethany says she collected hair from Clara's brush."
Mark's face tightened.
"And from me?"
"She believed she collected yours from a comb in the downstairs bathroom."
Elena frowned.
Mark did too.
"I don't use that bathroom."
Shaw looked at him.
"Who does?"
Mark's eyes changed.
"Guests."
"Anyone regularly?"
He was silent.
Elena remembered.
"Daniel."
Both of them looked at her.
"He used it."
Mark stared at her.
Elena explained.
"He hated the upstairs guest bathroom because the shower pressure was bad."
A strange expression crossed Mark's face.
"He complained about that constantly."
Elena nodded.
Shaw asked, "So the hair Bethany believed belonged to Mark may have belonged to Daniel."
"Maybe."
Mark sat down abruptly in the chair against the wall.
For several seconds he looked almost dizzy.
Shaw remained standing.
"If the first test compared Clara to Daniel's sample rather than yours, an exclusion wouldn't tell us much about you."
Mark stared at the floor.
Elena followed the logic slowly.
"And if the second sample came from somewhere else?"
Shaw nodded.
"We don't know what any of those results establish yet."
Mark looked up.
"Then Victoria may not know either."
"No."
That seemed to frighten him more than certainty had.
"She dropped Clara because of something she didn't even know was true."
Shaw did not answer.
Mark rubbed both hands over his face.
Elena looked through the narrow window again.
Clara was asleep.
Her mouth was slightly open.
One hand rested beside her head.
Nothing about her resembled a question.
Shaw said, "There may be another issue."
Mark lowered his hands.
"What now?"
"Bethany says she confronted Victoria with the first result."
"When?"
"Six months ago."
"The same time she was fired."
"Within days."
Mark stared at her.
"So Victoria knew Bethany had tested Clara."
"Yes."
"Then why order more tests?"
May you like
"That's what I'm trying to determine."
Elena thought of the envelope from that morning.
