Chương 6
Beth listened to all of it.
“I miss him,” Claire said finally.
“I know.”
“That makes me disgusting.”
“No.”
“He could have killed me.”
“Yes.”
“And I miss him.”
“Yes.”
Claire looked at Beth with irritation. “You say yes to everything.”
“Not everything.”
“Say something useful.”
Beth adjusted her glasses. “Missing him is not evidence that you should return. It is evidence that you formed a bond with a person who was not cruel every minute.”
The monitor beeped.
“That’s still not useful,” Claire said.
Beth gave a tired half smile. “Most true things aren’t useful at two in the morning.”
The emergency protection order was granted shortly before sunrise. Dominic was prohibited from contacting Claire directly, entering the ICU, approaching her workplace, or returning to the marital home after a police-supervised period to collect essential belongings. Claire was granted temporary possession of the house and temporary custody of Milo.
When Naomi read the conditions over the phone, Claire stared at the word temporary in the electronic copy.
“How long?” she asked.
“Until the full hearing in fourteen days, unless extended.”
“What if the judge changes it?”
“We prepare.”
“What if Dominic says I attacked him?”
“He will.”
“What if they believe him?”
“We prepare for that too.”
The hospital moved Claire from intensive care to a trauma step-down room that afternoon. The new room was smaller, with one wide window overlooking a parking garage roof. A patient in the next room watched a game show loudly enough that applause leaked through the wall every few minutes.
Celia helped transfer Claire to the new bed. Before leaving, she placed a folded sheet of paper on the tray table.
It was the visitor restriction notice.
DOMINIC HALE — NO ACCESS.
LORRAINE MERCER — CONTACT PATIENT BEFORE ACCESS.
CHARLES MERCER — CONTACT PATIENT BEFORE ACCESS.
Claire read the names twice.
“You can change the list,” Celia said.
“I know.”
“You can add people too.”
“There isn’t anyone.”
Celia checked the brake on the bed. “That is often less true than it feels.”
After she left, Claire unfolded the visitor notice and tucked it beneath the phone.
Milo arrived at four in the afternoon, though animals were not allowed upstairs. Mrs. Alvarez stood outside the hospital entrance with him while Beth took Claire down in a wheelchair for ten minutes.
The moment Milo saw her, he pulled so hard against the leash that his paws skidded on the tile. Then he stopped several feet away.
Claire understood. She smelled wrong. Hospital soap, adhesive, blood beneath antiseptic, someone else’s laundry detergent. Her face was swollen. The oxygen cannula looped behind her ears. Milo lowered his head and whined.
“It’s me,” she said.
He approached one step at a time. When his nose touched her uninjured hand, his entire body began to shake. Claire bent as far as her ribs allowed and pressed her forehead against his.
Mrs. Alvarez turned away to give them privacy, though tears had already gathered beneath her eyes. She was sixty-eight, short and broad-shouldered, wearing gardening shoes with dried soil in the treads. Her gray hair had been clipped up carelessly.
“I took him before the police went inside,” she said. “Your husband argued. The officer told him the order had been served.”
“Did Dominic scare him?”
“No. He gave him a biscuit.”
Of course he had.
Mrs. Alvarez rubbed one thumb along the leash handle. “I should have called sooner.”
“You called the ambulance.”
“I mean before last night.”
Claire looked up.
“I heard things,” Mrs. Alvarez said. “Not words. Doors. Once, glass. I told myself wealthy people make noise too.”
“We’re not wealthy.”
Mrs. Alvarez looked at the hospital entrance, the stone planters, the valet lane. “You know what I mean.”
Claire did. Dominic looked expensive. Their house looked expensive. Claire’s grandmother’s trust had made certain kinds of trouble invisible because bills were paid and walls were thick.
“Did you see what happened?” Claire asked.
“I saw you come through the door on your hands. He came after you. He said you were confused. You said, ‘Don’t let him touch me.’ Then you threw up on my hydrangeas.”
Despite the pain, Claire laughed once. It became a cough. Beth crouched beside the wheelchair until the spasm passed.
“I’m sorry about the hydrangeas,” Claire said.
“They never did well there.”
Mrs. Alvarez’s mouth trembled. “I gave a statement to the detective.”
“Thank you.”
“I didn’t do it for thanks.”
Milo tried to climb into Claire’s lap. Beth and Mrs. Alvarez stopped him together. He settled for resting his heavy head against Claire’s knee.
“Can you keep him?” Claire asked.
“For as long as you need.”
“What if Dominic tries to take him?”
“The order says temporary custody is yours. I have a copy by the door and another in my car.”
Claire studied her neighbor. “You work fast.”
“I was a middle-school secretary for thirty-one years. Nothing frightens me except eighth-grade boys with aerosol cans.”
For one minute, the world became almost ordinary. Milo sneezed. A valet argued with a delivery driver. Somewhere above them, a helicopter crossed the hospital roof and sent wind through the young trees lining the drive.
Then Claire’s phone vibrated.
MOM.
The protection order did not cover Lorraine.
Claire rejected the call.
Mrs. Alvarez watched without asking.
Back upstairs, Claire found three messages from her father.
The first said, Call me before this goes any further.
The second said, Your mother is physically ill from what you’ve done.
The third contained only six words.
Dominic explained the financial situation.
Claire showed Naomi during their evening call.
“What financial situation?” Naomi asked.
“You tell me.”
“The accountant confirmed that North Orchard received transfers from accounts connected to you and Dominic. We are still tracing the source and authorization.”
“Did my father know?”
“I can’t answer that yet.”
“He formed the company.”
“That shows involvement. It does not show he understood every transfer.”
May you like
“My father reads appliance warranties.”
Naomi glanced down at her notes. “There’s more.”
