Chương 4
“Ten?”
“Why?”
Thomas’s expression did not change.
“Because if you’re going to tell the police something, you should be precise.”
Mina’s stomach tightened.
He was not asking because he was confused.
He was testing her memory.
“I’ll tell them what happened.”
“That’s what I’m asking.”
“No.”
She tied the napkin tighter around her thumb.
“You’re asking what I remember.”
His gaze sharpened.
“There’s a difference?”
“Yes.”
He leaned closer.
“You just destroyed a coffin with an axe in front of sixty people.”
“And she was alive.”
“You didn’t know that when you did it.”
“I heard her.”
“You thought you heard something.”
“I heard her.”
Thomas gave a small nod.
“That certainty could become a problem for you.”
Mina stared at him.
“Why would it be a problem?”
“Property damage.”
She almost smiled.
“You’re worried about the coffin?”
“I’m worried about what happens next.”
“So am I.”
“You should be.”
The way he said it made the room seem colder.
Mina looked toward the police officer.
He was speaking to Mr. Salazar near the front doors.
Thomas noticed.
His voice softened immediately.
“I’m not threatening you.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“I’m trying to protect Daniel.”
“From what?”
“From this becoming a circus.”
Mina glanced around at the broken coffin, the spilled flowers, the phones, the blood on her hand.
“A little late.”
Thomas rubbed the swelling on his cheek.
For the first time, fatigue showed beneath his control.
“My brother is not equipped for this.”
“For his wife being alive?”
“For what people will say.”
Mina stepped closer.
“What will they say?”
His eyes met hers.
Neither spoke.
The police officer approached before Thomas answered.
“Ma’am, I need your name.”
“Mina Park.”
“You’re the one who damaged the coffin?”
“Yes.”
Thomas said, “She admitted it.”
The officer looked at him.
“I heard her.”
Thomas moved away.
The officer turned back to Mina.
“Did you believe someone inside was alive when you struck it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I heard knocking.”
“Before the first strike?”
“Yes.”
“Anyone else hear it?”
“I don’t know.”
Mr. Salazar raised one hand from several feet away.
“I heard something.”
Everyone looked at him.
He seemed unhappy about becoming visible.
The officer asked, “Before she hit the coffin?”
Mr. Salazar nodded slowly.
“I heard a sound.”
Thomas said, “You told me the building settles.”
Mr. Salazar’s face tightened.
“I said it might have been the building.”
“Exactly.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
Thomas stepped toward him.
“You said there are pipes behind that wall.”
“There are.”
“So the sound could have been pipes.”
“Thomas.”
Mina’s voice stopped him.
He turned.
She held his gaze.
“You heard it too.”
A few nearby mourners went quiet.
Thomas looked almost offended.
“After the coffin was damaged.”
“No.”
Mina took one step toward him.
“You heard it before.”
He said nothing.
“You were standing beside Daniel.”
“I don’t know what I heard.”
“You looked at the coffin.”
“So did everyone.”
“You told Daniel to stop me before I hit it again.”
“Because you had an axe.”
Mina could not argue with that.
The officer lifted a hand.
“One at a time.”
Thomas exhaled through his nose.
“Ask your questions.”
The officer turned to Mina.
“Did you know Mrs. Mercer personally?”
“I worked for her.”
“At her home?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Four years.”
“What kind of work?”
“Housekeeping, errands, meals sometimes.”
Thomas muttered, “She was staff.”
Mina looked at him.
The officer did too.
Thomas adjusted his cuff.
The movement was automatic and strangely neat considering the swelling in his face.
The officer continued.
“Did Mrs. Mercer have any medical problems you knew about?”
“Nothing that should have killed her.”
“How was she supposed to have died?”
Mina stopped.
She had answered that question a dozen times in her own head, and each answer felt less believable than the last.
“Cardiac arrest.”
The officer glanced at Mr. Salazar.
“That’s what was on the paperwork?”
“Yes,” Mr. Salazar said.
“Hospital death?”
Thomas answered first.
“Home.”
The officer’s head turned.
Mina felt the old uneasiness return at once.
Evelyn had collapsed at home.
Daniel had found her.
Thomas had been there before the ambulance arrived.
Mina had been told that part the next morning.
“What time?” the officer asked.
Thomas folded his arms.
“Late evening.”
Mina looked at him.
He knew the exact time.
She knew because Evelyn’s kitchen clock had stopped at 10:17 after someone unplugged it that night.
Mina had plugged it back in the following morning.
She had assumed a paramedic needed the outlet.
Now she pictured Thomas standing beside the medication drawer.
She pictured the drawer shutting.
She pictured the black trash bag he had carried out through the garage before sunrise.
At the time, he had said he was clearing spoiled food because nobody would be staying in the house.
Mina had thought it was an odd kindness.
Standing among the shattered coffin panels, it no longer felt kind.
The officer asked, “Who was present when she collapsed?”
Thomas answered, “Daniel.”
Mina said, “And you.”
Thomas looked at her.
The officer noticed.
“You were there too?”
Thomas’s voice became careful.
“I arrived shortly afterward.”
“How shortly?”
“A few minutes.”
“Who called 911?”
“Daniel.”
Mina spoke before she could stop herself.
“No.”
Thomas turned sharply.
The officer looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
Mina’s pulse quickened.
“Daniel told me his phone was upstairs.”
Thomas said, “That doesn’t mean anything.”
Mina kept her eyes on the officer.
“He said Thomas called.”
For the first time since the paramedic found Evelyn’s pulse, Thomas looked genuinely frightened.
The fear lasted less than a second, but Mina saw it.
Thomas recovered by looking at the officer instead of her.
“I made the call because Daniel was trying to help his wife.”
The officer nodded.
“So you were there when she collapsed.”
“I had just arrived.”
“That’s not what you said.”
“I said I arrived shortly afterward.”
“After what?”
Thomas’s mouth tightened.
“After she became ill.”
May you like
The officer waited.
Thomas added, “Before the ambulance.”
