Chương 5
"Because you were standing over my husband's desk."
"I was dusting it."
"You opened his mail."
"I did not."
"Enough," the officer beside Victoria said.
The paramedics resumed moving Clara toward the doors.
Mark followed automatically, then stopped when the officer near him caught his shoulder lightly.
"Sir, decide whether you're going with your daughter."
Mark looked from Clara to Victoria.
The choice seemed to hurt him physically.
He pointed toward the study.
"Secure that room."
The officer nodded.
"Nobody goes in."
Mark looked at Elena.
"Come to the hospital."
Elena blinked.
"What?"
"Please."
Victoria's head snapped toward him.
"Why does she need to go?"
Mark did not answer her.
He looked at Elena again.
"She knows what happened to Clara."
Elena glanced down at her knees.
Blood had begun to soak through one stocking.
"I can come."
The paramedic nearest her noticed.
"You need to be checked too."
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding."
Elena looked down as if the legs belonged to someone else.
The pain arrived only after he pointed it out.
Her knees burned, and her wrist throbbed when she flexed her fingers.
"Sit on the second stretcher," he said.
"I don't need a stretcher."
"You can sit or I can argue with you until you do."
Under different circumstances, Elena might have laughed.
Instead she lowered herself onto the edge of the empty gurney.
Mark followed Clara outside.
Victoria called after him.
"Mark."
He kept walking.
Her voice cracked.
"Don't leave me here with them."
He stopped under the open doors.
Sunlight fell across his shoulders and turned the foyer behind him darker by comparison.
When he looked back, his face had lost nearly all expression.
"You left Clara over a railing."
Victoria flinched.
"I told you, you don't understand."
"Then start making me understand."
"I can't with police standing here."
The officer beside her said nothing.
Mark waited.
Victoria looked toward Elena once more.
Then she said, "Clara isn't yours."
Everything stopped.
Even Elena forgot the pain in her knees.
Mark did not move.
"What?"
Victoria's mouth trembled.
She pressed her lips together and seemed to regret the sentence before it had fully entered the air.
Mark stepped back into the foyer.
The officer raised one hand.
"Sir, stay where you are."
He obeyed, but barely.
"What did you say?"
Victoria looked at the floor.
"She isn't yours."
Elena felt sick.
Mark stared at his wife as though he no longer recognized the shape of her face.
"Whose is she?"
Victoria closed her eyes.
"I don't know."
That answer landed harder than the first.
Mark gave a short, disbelieving breath.
"You don't know."
"I didn't know for sure."
"That's not what I asked."
"I know."
"Whose child is she?"
Victoria's eyes opened.
"I don't know."
Mark stepped forward.
The officer moved between them completely now.
"Sir."
Mark stopped.
His hands were shaking.
"You had a paternity test."
Victoria said nothing.
"Was that in the envelope?"
She nodded.
"What did it say?"
Her voice was barely audible.
"Excluded."
Mark's face emptied.
Elena watched him try to stand inside that word.
He looked toward the driveway where Clara's stretcher waited beside the ambulance.
Then back at Victoria.
"How long have you known?"
"This morning."
"No."
"This morning, Mark."
"You knew before the test."
"I suspected."
"How long?"
Victoria rubbed her hands together.
"A few months."
He laughed once.
It sounded awful.
"A few months."
"Please don't do this here."
"Where would you prefer?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe upstairs?"
Victoria recoiled.
The officer said, "Sir, this can wait until we've handled the medical emergency."
Mark looked toward Clara again.
That broke whatever held him in place.
He turned and walked outside without another word.
Elena watched him go.
Victoria lowered herself onto the stair again.
For the first time, she looked smaller than the house.
The officer beside her said, "We need to talk about what happened on that landing."
Victoria stared at her hands.
"I already told you."
"No, you told your husband that you expected Elena to catch the child."
Victoria's shoulders tightened.
"I was panicking."
"Did you release Clara intentionally?"
"No."
Elena looked at her.
Victoria looked back.
"No," she repeated.
The officer glanced toward Elena.
"You said you saw her open her hands."
"Yes."
Victoria's voice sharpened.
"She saw one second."
"I saw enough."
"Stop saying that."
Elena blinked.
Victoria's face twisted with something raw.
"You all keep saying you saw enough."
The officer stepped slightly closer.
"What didn't she see?"
Victoria's breathing changed.
She looked toward the landing.
"I was trying to scare Mark."
Nobody answered.
Victoria swallowed.
"I wanted him to believe something happened."
The officer's expression remained unreadable.
"Something happened."
"No."
Victoria shook her head quickly.
"Not like this."
Elena's stomach turned.
Victoria pointed at her.
"She was supposed to be at the bottom of the stairs."
"How would you know where she'd be?"
"Because I told her to bring coffee through the foyer at eleven thirty."
Elena stared at her.
That had been unusual.
Victoria normally took coffee in the morning room.
At eleven twenty-five, she had called the kitchen and asked Elena personally to bring it upstairs.
Elena had been delayed because one of the cups had chipped.
Five minutes.
Maybe less.
Victoria looked at her and seemed to read the memory on her face.
"You were late."
Elena whispered, "You planned it."
"No."
"You told me to come through here."
"I needed you to see."
"See what?"
Victoria rubbed her forehead.
"Clara falling."
The officer's voice went flat.
"That's planning."
Victoria looked at her.
"I was holding the blanket."
Elena felt cold again.
Victoria continued quickly.
"She was wrapped tightly."
"That does not make dropping a child safe."
"I know that now."
"You knew it then."
"No."
The officer's voice hardened.
"Ma'am, a two-year-old falling from that height can die."
Victoria's eyes filled.
"I wasn't thinking."
Elena stood despite the paramedic telling her not to.
"You were thinking enough to call me downstairs."
May you like
Victoria looked at her.
"You were supposed to catch her sooner."
