Chương 12
"The first result didn't give her what she needed."
Shaw looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
Elena considered the words.
"If Bethany thought the sample was Mark's, and Victoria knew there was a chance it was Daniel's, then an exclusion could mean almost anything."
Mark's face hardened.
Shaw nodded slowly.
"That's plausible."
Elena continued.
"So Victoria ordered another one."
Mark looked at her.
"Using my name."
"Because she needed a real answer."
"Then why hide it?"
"Because maybe the answer wasn't what she expected."
He shook his head.
"She told me Clara wasn't mine."
"After police arrived."
Mark looked toward her.
Elena said, "People say different things when they're trying to control what happens next."
His own description of Victoria came back between them.
Shaw noticed the exchange.
"What do you think she wanted to control?"
Elena looked at Clara's door.
"The story."
Mark stood.
"The story about what?"
"About why Clara fell."
He stared at her.
Elena's thoughts moved carefully now.
"Victoria planned for me to be there."
"Yes."
"She wanted a witness."
"Yes."
"She wanted the fall to look accidental."
Mark's mouth tightened.
Shaw said nothing.
Elena continued.
"If Clara got hurt, everyone would focus on the accident."
Mark looked sick.
"If she died?"
Elena could not answer.
Shaw did.
"That's a question for Victoria."
Mark's face twisted.
"No."
He paced two steps and stopped.
"She said she expected Elena to catch her."
"That may be true."
"You don't believe her."
"I don't decide belief this early."
Mark gave a sharp laugh.
"Convenient."
Shaw's expression hardened.
"My job is not to make today emotionally simpler for you."
He stared at her.
The rebuke held.
Shaw continued.
"We need evidence of intent."
Elena thought of the coffee order.
"The call."
Shaw looked at her.
"Victoria called the kitchen."
"From where?"
"I don't know."
"Landline or cell?"
"The house system."
"Could there be a record?"
Mark answered.
"The internal phones log extensions."
Shaw took out her phone again.
"When exactly?"
Elena looked at the wall clock.
"I can estimate."
"Do that."
"Maybe eleven twenty-five."
Mark said, "The fall was around eleven thirty?"
"About that."
Shaw wrote it down.
"If the extension identifies the room, that helps establish where she was when she called you."
Mark looked toward the staircase in his mind.
"The upstairs sitting room has a phone."
Elena nodded.
"So does the nursery."
Shaw said, "Good."
Mark frowned.
"Good?"
"Useful."
He looked away.
The hallway had grown busier.
A transport aide pushed an empty wheelchair past them.
Someone laughed near the nurses' station.
Mark watched them as if ordinary sound had become offensive.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen and went still.
Elena noticed.
"Who is it?"
He did not answer.
Shaw looked over.
"Mr. Mercer?"
He turned the phone so they could see the name.
Daniel.
Nobody spoke.
The phone kept ringing.
Mark's thumb hovered over the screen.
Shaw said, "You are not required to answer."
He looked at her.
"Do you want me to?"
"I want you not to manipulate the conversation."
"That's not an answer."
"It is the only one I'm giving."
The call stopped.
Mark stared at the screen.
Three seconds later, a text arrived.
Call me before you talk to Victoria.
Mark's face changed.
Another message appeared.
She is going to blame me for everything.
Elena felt a slow chill move across her shoulders.
Shaw said, "Don't reply yet."
Mark did not.
A third message appeared.
And Mark, Clara is yours.
Mark stopped breathing for a second.
Elena looked at Shaw.
For the first time all afternoon, the detective's expression betrayed surprise.
Mark opened the message thread but did not type.
"How does he know?"
No one answered.
The phone rang again.
Daniel.
Mark looked through the window at Clara.
Then he looked at Shaw.
"If he knows something that can protect her, I'm answering."
Shaw nodded once.
"Speaker."
Mark accepted the call.
"Daniel."
His brother's voice came through immediately, breathless and low.
"Where are you?"
"Hospital."
A pause.
"Is she okay?"
"For now."
Daniel exhaled.
"Thank God."
Mark's eyes sharpened.
"How did you know something happened?"
Silence.
"Daniel."
"I got a call."
"From who?"
Another pause.
"Victoria."
Shaw took one step closer.
Mark's voice became very quiet.
"When?"
"About forty minutes ago."
"She's with police."
"I know."
"Then how did she call you?"
"She didn't call from her phone."
"What did she say?"
Daniel breathed out slowly.
"She told me the plan went wrong."
Mark's face drained of color.
Elena gripped the edge of her wrist brace.
"What plan?"
Daniel said nothing.
Mark's voice cracked.
"What plan, Daniel?"
"I told her not to do it."
Shaw's eyes narrowed.
Mark stood perfectly still.
"Do what?"
Daniel's answer came almost as a whisper.
"Make you think Clara was dead."
Mark closed his eyes.
The corridor noise seemed to recede around him.
When he spoke again, his voice was stripped of everything except control.
"Explain."
Daniel inhaled shakily.
"She called me three weeks ago."
"Why?"
"Because Bethany had contacted her again."
Mark looked at Detective Shaw.
Shaw motioned for him to keep Daniel talking.
"What did Bethany want?"
"Money."
Elena's face tightened.
Daniel corrected himself quickly.
"No, not exactly."
"What does that mean?"
"She wanted Victoria to tell you the truth."
Mark's mouth hardened.
"That isn't money."
"She said if Victoria didn't tell you, she'd send you everything she had."
"What did she have?"
"Pictures."
Daniel paused.
"Messages."
Mark's eyes closed again.
Elena looked away.
Daniel continued.
"She had dates."
"Dates of what?"
"Me coming to the house."
The words arrived without defense now.
Mark's hand tightened around the phone.
"So you slept with my wife."
Daniel did not answer.
"Say it."
"Yes."
Mark flinched as though the confirmation still possessed the power to injure him.
"How long?"
"A few months."
"When?"
"Before Clara was born."
Mark laughed once, quietly.
"That's convenient."
"I know."
"Do you?"
"Mark, I know what I did."
May you like
"No, you know what you're saying now."
Daniel went silent.
