Chương 5
The office could not confirm the details of Daniel’s final actions.
A second message contained contact information for Daniel’s parents, Robert and Marlene Reed, in Council Bluffs.
Tessa called them.
Robert answered, listened for less than a minute, and hung up.
Marlene called back seven minutes later.
“My husband thought you were selling something,” she said.
Tessa put the call on speaker with Claire present.
“I’m a hospital social worker at Willow Creek Medical Center,” Tessa explained. “We are attempting to verify family connections for an infant whose father is listed as Daniel Reed.”
Silence.
“Mrs. Reed?”
“My son didn’t have children.”
“We have not established paternity.”
“He didn’t.”
“The child’s mother identifies him as her husband.”
“He wasn’t married.”
Claire heard a man speaking in the background.
Marlene covered the phone. Her words became muffled, but the anger did not. When she returned, her voice had thinned.
“What is the woman’s name?”
“Hannah Reed.”
Another silence.
This one lasted longer.
“You know her,” Tessa said.
“I know of her.”
“Did Daniel tell you they were married?”
“He told us a lot of things when he wanted money.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“Are you saying she had a baby?”
“She delivered prematurely. The child is in intensive care.”
“How premature?”
Tessa looked at Claire before answering. “Very.”
A chair scraped on the other end of the line.
Marlene inhaled unevenly. “Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“I want to see her.”
“We’ll need the mother’s permission.”
“I’m the grandmother.”
“That relationship has not been legally established.”
“She’s my son’s child.”
“You just said your son didn’t have children.”
“I said he never told us.”
Robert’s voice came closer to the phone. “Ask whether that man is there.”
Marlene ignored him.
Tessa said, “Which man?”
“Ransom.”
Claire leaned toward the speaker. “How do you know Earl Ransom?”
“He came to our house after Daniel died.”
“What happened?”
“My husband told him to leave.”
“Why?”
Robert answered this time. “Because he killed our boy.”
The line disconnected.
Tessa sat back.
Claire watched the phone screen go dark.
“Real metal,” she said quietly.
“Still not a complete story,” Tessa replied.
By the end of Claire’s shift, she had worked fourteen hours. She changed in the staff locker room, drove home over streets shining with black ice, and found an envelope from her divorce attorney beneath a grocery advertisement in the mailbox.
She carried both inside and opened neither.
Her townhouse felt aggressively quiet. She left the television on in the living room while she reheated soup, then ate standing at the kitchen counter because sitting at the table reminded her that she had purchased four chairs for a household of two.
At eight twenty, she checked the neonatal unit’s secure staffing message. Baby Girl Reed had required noninvasive ventilation after a prolonged apnea spell. Her condition remained guarded.
Claire typed a question to the night charge nurse, deleted it, then called.
“She recovered,” Joanna said. “Don’t come back in.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were putting on shoes while you said that.”
Claire looked down. One white hospital shoe was on her left foot. Her right foot remained in a sock.
“I’m home,” she said.
“I know. Stay there.”
“How’s Hannah?”
“Still sedated. Cardiac says maybe awake tomorrow.”
“Any family?”
“No.”
Claire glanced at the unopened legal envelope. “All right.”
“Claire.”
“What?”
“The baby doesn’t know who held her this morning.”
“I know.”
“Good. You sounded like you needed reminding.”
After the call, Claire sat on the edge of her bed and removed the hospital shoe. Her heel had rubbed raw. She found an adhesive bandage in the bathroom cabinet, applied it crookedly, then stared at herself in the mirror.
She looked forty-two. Not dramatically older, not tragically exhausted. Just like a woman who had learned to keep her face calm while saying things that made other people’s lives split into before and after.
She had told Earl she was afraid of him.
The confession had felt honest when she said it. At home, it seemed insufficient. Honesty did not repair the use of authority. It did not return the volunteer badge he had left beneath a folded gown.
The following morning, Hannah was alert enough to speak for ten minutes.
Claire entered with Tessa and explained that they had confirmed Daniel Reed’s military service and death. She did not mention Robert’s accusation against Earl. Hannah listened with her eyes fixed on the blanket.
“Did his parents call?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Don’t let them in.”
Tessa sat near the foot of the bed. “We won’t disclose information or arrange contact without your consent, but we need to understand the relationships involved.”
“They hated me.”
“Why?”
Hannah gave a small, exhausted laugh. “You need a list?”
“A summary will do.”
“Daniel borrowed money from them. Then he borrowed more. He drank for a while after his second deployment. He got better. They preferred the version where I was the reason he needed help.”
“Were you legally married?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have documentation?”
“My phone.”
“Where is it?”
“No idea.”
Hospital security had bagged Hannah’s belongings after the emergency surgery. Tessa said she would locate them.
Claire moved closer. “What did you mean when you said you knew Earl from a picture?”
Hannah’s gaze shifted to her.
“Daniel sent me a picture from Syria,” she said. “Three men beside a vehicle. Earl was in the middle. He looked like somebody had built a wall and taught it to hate cameras.”
Despite herself, Tessa smiled.
Hannah did not.
“Daniel said Earl was the reason they took the road they took.”
“What road?” Claire asked.
“The one where he died.”
“Did Daniel tell you that before the attack?”
“He sent a voice message the night before. They were arguing about the route. Earl wanted to save time. Daniel said the road hadn’t been cleared.”
Tessa’s expression sharpened. “Do you still have the message?”
“Maybe. I stopped listening.”
“Why?”
May you like
“Because he sounded alive.”
The answer ended the questions for several seconds.
