Chương 10
“You spent your whole life around these people and somehow you never know.”
Daniel flinched.
She was glad.
Then ashamed of being glad.
She crossed her arms.
“Did your father go to the motel?”
Daniel stared at the sidewalk.
“I think he did.”
“Why?”
“My mother called me yesterday.”
Sofia blinked.
She had almost forgotten Daniel’s mother in all of this.
Elaine Cross had moved to Arizona after divorcing Thomas fifteen years earlier. Sofia had met her twice. Quiet woman. Beautiful silver hair. Always seemed relieved when Thomas left a room.
“What did she say?”
“That Dad came to her house the morning after Claire disappeared.”
“Why?”
“They were separated then, not divorced. He wanted clothes.”
Sofia frowned.
“Clothes?”
“He said he’d spilled something on himself.”
“What?”
“She doesn’t know. He put his shirt and pants in a trash bag.”
Sofia’s skin prickled.
“Did she see blood?”
“No.”
“Why is she remembering this now?”
“She saw Price’s name on the news. She remembered Dad was with Calvin that week.”
“Did she tell police?”
“She’s talking to them tomorrow.”
Sofia looked at Daniel.
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because I’m done deciding what you can handle.”
She looked away.
For months, perhaps years, she had wanted exactly that sentence from him without knowing it.
Now it arrived too late.
“Daniel.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t get to say that.”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
She looked at him again.
“Did you love Claire?”
Daniel took time before answering.
“I barely knew her.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
Sofia waited.
“I was fascinated by her,” he said. “I was twenty-five. She was fearless in ways I wasn’t. Or seemed fearless.”
“She wasn’t.”
“I know that now.”
“Did you love me?”
Daniel’s face changed.
“Yes.”
“Do you still?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes briefly.
“Don’t.”
“You asked.”
“I know.”
They stood on the sidewalk while a neighbor dragged a recycling bin toward the curb.
Plastic wheels rattled over concrete.
The neighbor saw them, looked away too quickly, then pretended to examine his mailbox.
Sofia almost smiled.
Daniel said, “I kept telling myself the past was separate from you.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s insane.”
“Yes.”
“You knew who I was when we met.”
“Not immediately.”
“You knew my last name.”
“Bennett is common.”
“My sister’s murder was in the news.”
“I recognized you after our second date.”
“And you went on a third.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I liked you.”
“That is possibly the worst answer you could give.”
“I know.”
She glared at him.
“Sorry.”
He corrected himself. “I understand.”
“That’s worse.”
For a second, despite everything, they both almost laughed.
Neither did.
Daniel looked toward Margaret’s house.
“I thought I could tell you once you knew me well enough.”
“What does that mean?”
“I thought if you loved me first, maybe the truth wouldn’t erase everything.”
Sofia stared at him.
“That’s manipulative.”
“Yes.”
“You built our relationship around a hostage situation.”
His eyes dropped.
“Yes.”
She felt tears rise and hated them.
“The cruelest part is that some of it was real.”
“All of it was real for me.”
“No.”
“Sofia—”
“No. You don’t get to define that. You lied every time we talked about Claire.”
“I did.”
“You held me when I cried about her.”
“Yes.”
“You went to the memorial walk.”
“Yes.”
“You stood beside my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You let us thank you for being supportive.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“Yes.”
Sofia wiped one eye with the back of her hand.
“That was not real.”
He had no answer.
Good.
She walked toward the house.
Behind her Daniel said, “I’m going to testify.”
She stopped.
“Against your father?”
“If prosecutors ask.”
“You should.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t make you brave.”
“I know.”
She turned.
He stood exactly where she had left him.
“Claire wrote that about you.”
“What?”
“She wrote, ‘D is not brave.’”
Daniel looked down.
A small, broken smile appeared.
“Sounds like her.”
“She also wrote not to confuse guilt with courage.”
The smile vanished.
Sofia opened the front door.
Daniel did not follow.
The investigation became public in pieces.
Calvin Price was arrested on charges connected to Claire’s death and the concealment that followed. Prosecutors declined to describe his full cooperation agreement.
Thomas Cross was arrested three days later.
Television crews filmed him leaving his attorney’s office.
He wore a charcoal suit and no tie.
He looked older than he had at the wedding.
Sofia watched eleven seconds of the footage and turned it off.
She felt no triumph.
Mostly she felt tired.
Daniel’s testimony before the grand jury did not become public immediately, but his cooperation did. Cross Meridian issued a statement emphasizing that Daniel had left the company years earlier and no longer had operational ties to his father.
Daniel’s current investment partners placed him on leave.
Evelyn resigned from their firm.
When Sofia asked why, Evelyn said, “It was time.”
“That sounds fake.”
“It is partly fake.”
“What’s the real reason?”
“They asked me whether interrupting your wedding showed impaired professional judgment.”
Sofia stared at her.
“What did you say?”
“That it probably did.”
“And?”
“I asked whether allowing the wedding to continue would have shown better judgment.”
“What did they say?”
“They scheduled another meeting.”
Sofia laughed.
Evelyn smiled.
It was the first time Sofia had seen her do it in weeks.
“You blew up your career.”
“I complicated it.”
“For me.”
“No.”
“For Claire?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Because I found a dead woman’s necklace in a safe and the man who owned the safe asked me to pretend I hadn’t.”
That answer satisfied Sofia.
The criminal case moved slowly.
For months there were hearings, motions, arguments about evidence, cooperation, old records, and what jurors should be allowed to hear.
Thomas’s attorneys attacked Price as a liar seeking leniency.
They attacked Daniel as an estranged son with financial motives.
They argued Claire’s recording was incomplete.
May you like
They argued the phrase accidents happen had been taken out of context.
Sofia sat through proceedings when she could.
