Chương 4
“You don’t know what she’s done,” he said.
Victoria stepped toward him.
Daniel moved between them before either could make the moment worse.
Derek gave a small shrug, as if he had only offered helpful information, and continued toward the exit.
Outside, the sky had begun turning the color of wet concrete.
Victoria returned to Emily’s room and found her sleeping. Nina had left a card on the tray. The black phone was gone, secured as part of the recording process. The empty place where it had landed looked too clean.
Victoria removed her uniform jacket, folded it over the back of the chair, and sat in her white shirt and black tie. Her shoulders ached. She loosened the tie by half an inch, then tightened it again.
At seven, a hospital aide brought oatmeal, apple juice, and toast sealed beneath a plastic cover. Victoria peeled the foil from the butter and spread it on the toast because Emily had hated dry edges since childhood. When Emily woke, she stared at the plate.
“I’m not hungry.”
“You should eat.”
“Please don’t.”
Victoria put the knife down.
The aide returned ten minutes later and asked whether they wanted the television turned on. Emily said no. Victoria said nothing. Somewhere across the hall, a man laughed at a morning game show. The laugh came through the wall in bright, recorded bursts.
“Did you know?” Emily asked.
Victoria looked at her. “About Jason?”
“Any of it.”
“No.”
“You never liked him.”
“That isn’t the same as knowing.”
“You said he was weak.”
“I said he mistook confidence for character.”
“That sounded better in your head, didn’t it?”
Victoria almost smiled. Emily did not.
“I should have asked more questions,” Victoria said.
“I lied when you asked.”
“You said you were happy.”
“I said we were fine.”
“You sent photographs from Paris.”
“It’s possible to be bruised in Paris.”
Victoria looked toward the window. The blinds were open now, revealing a parking garage and the upper floors of an office building. A janitor in the building across the street moved a mop in slow, repetitive strokes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Victoria asked.
Emily’s fingers worried the edge of the blanket. “Because you solve things.”
“That is usually considered useful.”
“You solve them your way.”
Victoria waited.
“When Dad died, you made lists,” Emily said. “Funeral home, insurance, school, groceries. You labeled the leftovers. You scheduled grief counseling before I had decided whether I wanted to speak. Every time I cried, you gave me a task.”
“I was trying to keep us functioning.”
“I know.”
The words did not absolve her.
Emily looked down at her hospital wristband. “Jason didn’t give me tasks. At first. He sat with me when I didn’t want to talk. He remembered Dad’s birthday. He made bad coffee and let me complain about it. He seemed easy.”
Victoria had not known Jason remembered David’s birthday.
“He waited,” Emily continued. “Then he started deciding who made me uncomfortable. Which friends were jealous. Which jobs were beneath me. Which dresses looked cheap. He never started with the door locked. That came later.”
Victoria reached for the toast, then stopped herself.
Emily’s voice thinned. “You would have told me to leave. You would have shown up with a plan, a lawyer, a moving truck, and three people with badges.”
“Yes.”
“And I would have gone back to him just to prove I could choose.”
Victoria pressed her lips together.
“That’s not fair,” Emily said.
“No. It isn’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for telling me the truth.”
“You look like I shot you.”
“I’ll work on my face.”
A weak sound escaped Emily. It might have been a laugh. It might have hurt.
Victoria stayed until the doctor ordered her to go home and sleep.
She drove to the hotel where the military dinner had been held because her overnight bag was still in a room upstairs. Police vehicles occupied part of the side entrance. Yellow tape blocked one service corridor. Two hotel employees stood near the loading dock smoking cigarettes beneath a NO SMOKING sign.
In the suite where Emily had been assaulted, investigators photographed a broken lamp, a dark stain near the dresser, and a shoe with a snapped heel. The door’s electronic lock was being examined. Daniel stood near the window speaking to hotel counsel.
Victoria watched from the corridor until he noticed her.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.
“I’m collecting my bag.”
“From this floor?”
“My room is two doors down.”
Daniel followed her gaze toward the open suite. “That coincidence will be useful to the Bennetts.”
“It wasn’t a coincidence. The foundation dinner and the military awards dinner used the same hotel because Bennett Civic Trust sponsored both.”
Daniel’s expression shifted. “The foundation sponsored your event?”
“One table. A grant to a family-support program.”
“Did you arrange it?”
“No.”
“Did Emily?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find out.”
Victoria’s tone cooled. “Do not give me orders.”
“Then consider it a request from the man trying to stop a defense attorney from claiming you and your daughter manufactured an accusation to distract from financial misconduct.”
She looked at him. “You’ve known about the foundation longer than tonight.”
Daniel did not answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
“How long?” she asked.
“Seven months.”
“And you didn’t mention it in the hospital.”
“It wasn’t the time.”
“My daughter’s forged signature is connected to your investigation.”
“We did not know her signature was forged. We knew irregular approvals existed under her credentials.”
Victoria took one step closer. “Was she a suspect?”
“She was a person we needed to interview.”
“You let her leave that hospital without telling her.”
“She had just disclosed that she copied records, threatened to use them in a divorce, and feared they implicated her. I told her to obtain counsel before unlocking her phone.”
“You also let Jason walk.”
“Walking out of a hospital is not the same as escaping consequences.”
May you like
“It looks similar from where I’m standing.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened. “You want an arrest because it would make the world feel corrected. An early arrest on weakly documented charges gives his lawyers a target. I want the hotel lock records. I want staff statements before they are coordinated. I want the house security logs. I want the phone. I want Marisol. Most of all, I want Emily to tell us the same truth tomorrow that she told us tonight, including the parts that make her look imperfect.”
