Chương 4
The realization was new.
There had been very few rooms in Eleanor’s life where she felt she needed permission.
Celeste sat back on the sofa.
“Did he tell you I’m crazy?”
Eleanor said nothing.
Celeste’s mouth twisted.
“That fast?”
“He said you were ill.”
“I was.”
Mia sat beside her.
Celeste took the girl’s hand.
“I still am, depending on which part you mean.”
“What happened?”
Celeste looked toward the open door.
“Is he gone?”
Keene leaned in.
“He’s in the corridor with another officer.”
“Officer?”
“Security officer.”
“So not police.”
“No.”
“Call police.”
Eleanor took out her phone.
Celeste said, “Not Victor’s people.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
Eleanor’s thumb stopped above the screen.
Celeste rubbed her forehead.
“Sorry. That was—”
“Do not apologize to me.”
Celeste looked at her.
The room stayed quiet.
Mia touched the cuff of her mother’s sweater.
“Mom.”
“I’m okay.”
“No, you’re doing the thing.”
“What thing?”
“The forehead.”
Celeste lowered her hand.
“Right.”
Eleanor dialed 911.
She gave the address.
She said there was an adult woman and child who said they had been prevented from leaving a room in the lower level of the house.
The dispatcher asked whether anyone had a weapon.
Eleanor looked at Celeste.
Celeste shook her head.
“Not that I know of.”
The dispatcher asked whether the person accused of keeping them there remained on the premises.
“Yes.”
“Are you in immediate danger?”
Eleanor looked at the open doorway.
Victor stood ten feet away beyond Keene, one hand in his trouser pocket.
Their eyes met.
“I don’t know,” Eleanor said.
That answer seemed to irritate the dispatcher.
“Ma’am, I need you to tell me if anyone is threatening you right now.”
“No.”
“Then stay separated from the person you’re accusing. Officers are on the way.”
Eleanor ended the call.
Celeste said, “Did you actually call them?”
“Yes.”
“That’s new.”
Mia looked between them.
Eleanor felt the remark more sharply than if Celeste had shouted.
“Do you need a doctor?”
“I need several things.”
“A doctor first.”
“I’ve had doctors.”
“Did you choose them?”
Celeste looked away.
Eleanor sat in the chair opposite the sofa.
Slowly.
Her gown gathered at her knees.
The locket was still in her hand.
Mia saw it.
“That’s mine.”
Eleanor opened her fingers.
Mia crossed the small space and took it.
She did not thank her.
She carried it back to Celeste.
Celeste held the sapphire face between two fingers.
“I told her if she ever got separated from me, she should show that to you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’d recognize it.”
“You were counting on me.”
“I was counting on the jewelry.”
For the first time, Eleanor had no defense ready.
Celeste almost smiled.
Then her face folded slightly around something more complicated.
“You look old.”
Eleanor let out a breath.
“I am old.”
“You weren’t supposed to get old while I was gone.”
“That was inconsiderate of me.”
Mia looked at her mother.
Celeste gave a tiny laugh and then covered her mouth.
It became a cough.
Mia rubbed her back.
Eleanor watched.
She had not known Celeste had a daughter.
That fact sat beneath every other shock.
Not just that Celeste was alive.
That a nine-year-old human being existed who knew how Celeste took a breath before coughing, how she rubbed her forehead when frightened, what object she would trust in an emergency.
Eleanor had missed an entire person.
Sirens approached somewhere beyond the house.
Celeste’s hand went still on Mia’s knee.
“Okay.”
“What?”
“Tell them he took my phone.”
Eleanor nodded.
“And my identification.”
“Yes.”
“He’ll say I gave it to him.”
“Did you?”
“At first.”
Eleanor felt cold.
Celeste looked at the open doorway.
“He didn’t drag me here in chains, Mother.”
Mia frowned.
Celeste squeezed her hand.
“I need you to hear that because he’s going to use it.”
“Tell me.”
“Not all of it. Not yet.”
“All right.”
Celeste looked surprised.
Eleanor understood why.
She had always responded to incomplete information by demanding more of it.
Tonight she said, “Tell me what they need to know.”
Celeste nodded.
“I came to him for help eight months ago. Mia and I were in Pennsylvania. I was sick. I had been taking pills after the accident and then taking them when I didn’t need them, and then needing them because I was taking them. You know how that story goes.”
Eleanor did not, personally.
She had paid for programs that said it happened.
That was not the same thing.
“Victor found us,” Celeste continued. “He offered a private treatment place. No publicity. No contact with you.”
“Why no contact with me?”
Celeste looked directly at her.
“Because that was part of why I agreed.”
The sirens grew louder.
Eleanor let the answer remain where it was.
Celeste continued.
“He helped at first.”
Mia leaned against her.
“He really did. I was a mess. I couldn’t sleep. I was angry. I was ashamed. I’d scared Mia. Victor put us at the Connecticut house. There was a nurse. I had my phone for the first two weeks.”
“What changed?”
Celeste rubbed the locket chain across her thumb.
“I told him I was ready to leave.”
“And?”
“He said I wasn’t.”
“Did a doctor agree?”
“One did.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I tried to call a lawyer.”
Victor’s voice came from the hall.
“That lawyer was trying to sell your story.”
Celeste went rigid.
Eleanor stood.
“Daniel.”
Keene moved Victor farther away.
Celeste stared at the doorway.
“He listens.”
“Not anymore.”
“Don’t say things you can’t guarantee.”
Eleanor looked at her daughter.
She almost promised.
Instead she said, “I’ll try not to.”
Footsteps sounded in the corridor.
Uniformed officers arrived first, followed soon after by paramedics.
The next hour was nothing like the dramatic rescue Eleanor would later see described online.
It was slow.
Repetitive.
Confusing.
Police separated everyone.
They asked Celeste the same questions in slightly different ways.
May you like
They asked Mia fewer questions and stopped when she became visibly tired.
They asked Victor to remain in the library upstairs.
