Chương 16
“I contain multitudes.”
Claire laughed so hard she had to put the car in park.
They did not become mother and daughter again by spring.
They became Laura and Claire.
That was harder.
More honest.
Laura learned not to call repeatedly when Claire ignored a message.
Claire learned that silence from Laura did not always mean abandonment.
Sometimes she was working.
Sometimes she was at a meeting.
Sometimes she had fallen asleep watching television.
Ethan began seeing a therapist.
He hated it.
“It’s just talking.”
“That’s usually what therapy is.”
“She has a basket of stress balls.”
“Do you use them?”
“No.”
Claire found three in his backpack.
He returned to school.
For months he refused rides from anyone except Claire, Marcus, or Laura.
Then one afternoon Claire’s car battery died.
Ethan stood on the curb staring at the rideshare they had ordered.
“You don’t have to,” Claire said.
He looked at the back seat.
Then at her.
“It’s a sedan.”
“Yes.”
“Not an SUV.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
He got in.
Claire did not make a big deal of it.
She texted Laura afterward.
He got into a rideshare today.
Laura replied with a heart.
Claire deleted the heart.
Then felt bad and restored the message from recently deleted, which was ridiculous because deleting a message did not remove it from Laura’s phone.
Healing, Claire discovered, was often embarrassingly administrative.
In April, Richard was sentenced.
Claire attended.
Laura did not.
Ethan stayed at school.
Richard stood before the judge in a dark suit.
He looked like himself.
That surprised Claire.
She had expected consequences to alter his shape.
They had not.
His attorneys spoke.
Prosecutors spoke.
Richard spoke briefly.
He accepted responsibility for financial misconduct.
He apologized to employees, investors, and family.
Claire could hear where the lawyers had helped.
She could also hear where they had not.
The judge imposed prison time, financial penalties, and restitution.
Less than online commenters demanded.
More than Richard believed he deserved.
Afterward, Claire waited in a hallway.
Richard approached with his attorney.
They were permitted a short moment.
He looked at her.
“Is your mother all right?”
“Yes.”
“Ethan?”
“Better.”
“And you?”
Claire thought.
“I don’t know yet.”
Richard nodded.
“That sounds honest.”
She almost rolled her eyes.
He smiled.
Then his expression changed.
“Do you remember the aquarium?”
Claire frowned.
“What?”
“When you were eight. Boston.”
“Yes.”
“You refused to leave the penguins.”
“I liked them.”
“You cried in the gift shop because we wouldn’t buy a three-foot stuffed one.”
“I was eight.”
“Your mother bought it.”
“You told her not to.”
“She ignored me.”
Claire smiled despite herself.
“It was bigger than my suitcase.”
Richard nodded.
For a few seconds they stood inside a memory where nobody was missing.
Then the hallway returned.
Richard said, “I keep trying to find the moment I became the person who did those things.”
Claire looked at him.
“That’s probably the wrong question.”
“What’s the right one?”
“How many times did you decide not to stop?”
He flinched.
Claire had not intended cruelty.
Maybe she had.
Richard nodded slowly.
“That’s fair.”
She almost laughed at the phrase.
Instead she said, “Bye, Dad.”
“Bye, sweetheart.”
She walked away before he could ask whether she would visit.
She did eventually.
Not often.
The first visit was awkward.
They discussed Ethan’s science fair.
The food.
A book Richard was reading.
Nothing important.
Claire left irritated.
Then realized ordinary conversation was perhaps the only kind they had not corrupted.
By summer, the Bellweather had a new ownership group.
The third-floor renovation resumed.
Room 317 was scheduled to become part of a service corridor.
The company contacted Laura about personal property recovered from the room.
There was only the old desk.
Two chairs.
And the red suitcase, which police had released after determining it contained no evidence beyond Laura’s ownership and placement.
Laura asked Claire to come with her.
They met Marcus at the hotel.
He no longer worked security.
He had taken a job overseeing facilities for a hospital network.
“Less drama?” Claire asked.
“People steal wheelchairs.”
“That sounds manageable.”
“You’d be surprised.”
Ethan came too.
He had grown almost an inch.
The scrape on his cheek had faded to a thin pale mark.
The garage looked ordinary.
That bothered him.
Claire saw it.
The black Escalade was gone.
The broken glass gone.
The bent luggage cart gone.
Cars occupied different spaces.
Yellow lines.
Concrete pillars.
Fluorescent hum.
Nothing acknowledged what had happened.
Ethan stopped near the place where Marcus had pulled him through the shattered window.
Claire stood beside him.
“You okay?”
He nodded.
Then shook his head.
“Both?”
“Yeah.”
She took his hand.
He did not object.
They rode the elevator upstairs.
The third floor smelled like fresh drywall.
Room 317’s hidden corridor had been exposed during construction. The decorative panel had been removed. The room no longer looked secret.
Just old.
A contractor handed Laura the suitcase.
She took it.
For a moment she stood holding the handle.
Claire watched.
“Still squeaks?”
Laura rolled it once.
The wheel gave the same tiny complaint Claire remembered.
Ethan grinned.
“That’s terrible.”
“I know,” Laura said.
“Why did you keep it?”
“I’m beginning to think spite.”
“Against who?”
“Luggage manufacturers.”
Marcus laughed.
They left the room.
At the elevator, Laura stopped.
She looked back.
Claire followed her eyes.
317.
The number plate was still attached.
Laura said, “I thought that room ruined my life.”
Claire waited.
Laura rubbed the suitcase handle.
“Then I thought Richard did.”
Marcus looked away.
Laura continued.
“Then Daniel. Then alcohol. Then me.”
Claire said, “You’re allowed to blame more than one thing.”
Laura looked at her.
“I’m working on that.”
The elevator arrived.
They stepped inside.
Ethan pressed the lobby button.
The doors began to close.
Laura suddenly reached out.
The doors reopened.
She looked back toward Room 317.
Claire felt tension enter her body.
“What?”
Laura did not answer.
Then she stepped out.
She rolled the red suitcase to the doorway.
May you like
Opened it.
Inside were clothes.
