Chương 6
“When?”
“She told me two weeks ago.”
Mina stared at the broken coffin.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Who was I supposed to tell?”
“The police.”
“She collapsed.”
“You thought she died.”
“Yes.”
“If she wanted to leave you, that matters.”
“Mina.”
“I’m not accusing you.”
“It sounds like you are.”
“I’m saying it matters.”
He swore quietly.
Then he lowered his voice.
“She said she needed space.”
“That’s different from leaving.”
“No.”
He laughed without humor.
“Not the way she said it.”
Mina heard a door close on his end.
The background noise became muffled.
“I came home early that night,” Daniel said.
Mina did not interrupt.
“She was packing.”
Her fingers tightened around the water bottle.
“One suitcase.”
He continued before she could ask anything.
“She said she was going to stay with Claire.”
Mina knew Claire vaguely.
Evelyn’s college friend in Baltimore.
“She was crying?”
“No.”
“Were you?”
Daniel made a faint irritated sound.
“What kind of question is that?”
“A real one.”
“No.”
He paused.
“Not then.”
“What happened?”
“We argued.”
“About what?”
“Everything.”
“Daniel.”
“I don’t remember every sentence.”
“You remember enough.”
He breathed out.
“I told her she was being ridiculous.”
Mina said nothing.
“I told her she was bored and looking for something to blame.”
His voice turned bitter.
“Which was a great thing to say to a woman packing a suitcase.”
“What did she say?”
“That I always did that.”
“Did what?”
“Made her feelings sound temporary so I wouldn’t have to deal with them.”
That sounded like Evelyn.
Specific.
Sharp without being theatrical.
“What happened after the argument?”
“She went downstairs.”
“To the kitchen?”
“I think.”
“You think?”
“I went into my office.”
“Why?”
“Because I was angry.”
Mina looked across the room again.
Thomas had stopped talking.
He was watching her.
She turned slightly in her chair.
“How long were you in there?”
“Maybe twenty minutes.”
“And then?”
“I heard something fall.”
Mina’s throat tightened.
“I went out.”
His breathing changed.
“She was on the kitchen floor.”
“Was Thomas there?”
“No.”
Mina looked back at him.
Thomas was no longer watching.
“When did he arrive?”
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel.”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Before or after you called 911?”
“I didn’t call.”
Her heart beat harder.
“I know.”
“I couldn’t find my phone.”
“What did you do?”
“I was trying to wake her up.”
His voice fractured on the last word.
“I yelled.”
“Did Thomas hear you from outside?”
“No.”
“Then why did he come?”
Silence.
Mina waited.
Daniel said, “He had a key.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Another silence.
“He said Evelyn called him.”
Mina stopped breathing for a moment.
“When?”
“He didn’t say.”
“What did she call him about?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never asked?”
“My wife was on the floor.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
His voice rose.
“You weren’t there.”
Mina let the anger pass.
He was right about that.
Then she asked, “Where was Thomas when you first saw him?”
“In the kitchen.”
The answer came too quickly.
Mina frowned.
“You said he arrived.”
“He did.”
“Did you see him come in?”
Daniel hesitated.
“No.”
“Did you hear the door?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know he arrived after she collapsed?”
“I—”
He stopped.
Across the room, Thomas turned toward her again.
Mina felt a cold pressure move through her chest.
“Daniel.”
“I was with Evelyn.”
“I know.”
“You’re making this sound—”
“Where exactly did you first see your brother?”
Daniel did not answer for several seconds.
Then he said, “Beside the pantry.”
Mina stared at the medication drawer in her mind.
The kitchen clock.
The black trash bag.
Thomas’s hand closing the drawer two nights later.
No.
That memory was wrong.
She had assumed it was two nights later because that was when she had been told Evelyn was dead.
But exhaustion had blurred those days.
She forced herself to reconstruct the sequence.
Evelyn collapsed Tuesday night.
Mina had been off duty.
She returned Wednesday morning.
The house was full of people.
Daniel was upstairs.
Thomas was in the kitchen.
The medication drawer had been open.
He had shut it when Mina entered.
The trash bag had been beside his leg.
He had carried it through the garage.
Mina lowered the phone.
Her fingers had gone numb.
Daniel’s voice came faintly from the speaker.
“Mina?”
She lifted it again.
“The trash.”
“What?”
“Thomas took a trash bag out of the kitchen Wednesday morning.”
“So?”
“He said it was spoiled food.”
Daniel was quiet.
Mina stood.
Mr. Salazar looked at her.
“What?”
She moved toward the officer who had first questioned her.
Thomas saw where she was going.
His body changed before his face did.
His shoulders drew back.
His feet shifted.
“Mina,” Daniel said through the phone.
She did not answer.
The officer turned toward her.
“I need to tell you something.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“Whatever she’s about to say, she’s confused.”
The officer looked at him.
Mina stopped.
That was too fast.
Too defensive.
Thomas seemed to hear it himself.
His mouth opened.
Mina said, “The morning after Evelyn collapsed, I saw him remove a trash bag from the kitchen.”
Thomas gave a hard laugh.
“I took out garbage.”
“From beside her medication drawer.”
The room around them grew quieter.
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
“You closed the drawer when I walked in.”
“I was cleaning.”
“You knew what prescriptions she took.”
“Daniel, tell her she’s being ridiculous.”
Mina held up the phone.
Daniel heard him.
Thomas’s face changed.
The officer said, “Mr. Mercer, where did you dispose of the bag?”
Thomas looked at him.
“I don’t remember.”
“Think.”
“The outside bin, probably.”
“Probably?”
“It was garbage.”
Mina heard Daniel whisper her name through the phone.
Thomas looked at the screen in her hand.
Then he looked at her.
His anger disappeared.
What replaced it frightened her more.
“Did Daniel tell you why Evelyn called me that night?”
Mina said nothing.
Thomas’s eyes stayed on hers.
May you like
“She wasn’t calling for help.”
The officer stepped closer.
