Chương 6
“He isn’t a witness.”
“You don’t know that.”
Daniel put the phone away.
Elise replaced her glasses.
“Good. We are learning.”
Nora almost smiled.
Daniel did not.
The meeting lasted another hour.
By the end of it, nothing had been solved.
That surprised Nora more than it should have.
She had spent three weeks imagining evidence as a door. Find enough and it would open.
Instead evidence created hallways.
Questions.
Who knew what?
When?
What records still existed?
What did the hotel receipts prove besides travel?
Why had Claire wanted the old footage gone?
Why did Nolan Pierce’s name appear so often in expenses Claire had hidden from Daniel?
And what, exactly, had Daniel meant when he asked his wife whether she had lied about the baby too?
Nora waited until Elise left the conference room to make copies.
Then she asked him.
Daniel stared at his hands.
“Claire and I separated for six weeks last year.”
Nora said nothing.
“She stayed in Washington for part of it. Nolan was there.”
“You suspected them.”
“I asked.”
“What did she say?”
“That I was disgusting for asking.”
“Were you?”
“Probably.”
Nora frowned.
Daniel rubbed the steel watch on his wrist.
“We had been trying to have a child. There were appointments, schedules. I don’t want to give you details.”
“Please don’t.”
“One month after we got back together, she told me she was pregnant.”
“And you thought—”
“I wanted it to be mine.”
The sentence sounded familiar.
Not in words.
In structure.
I needed Rachel to be unreasonable.
I wanted it to be mine.
Daniel Mercer, Nora thought, had built an extraordinary life around selecting the version of reality he could survive.
“Claire showed me a lab document later,” he said.
“A paternity test?”
“She said it confirmed what she’d told me.”
“Did you verify it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
His expression hardened.
“Because she was my wife.”
“So was Rachel.”
He looked at her.
Nora wished she could take the sentence back.
Not because it was untrue.
Because it was cruel.
Daniel nodded once.
“Yes.”
When Nora got home, Sam had assembled half a crib.
The instructions lay upside down on the rug.
“Why are there twelve extra screws?” Nora asked.
“They’re not extra.”
“They’re definitely extra.”
“They’re emotionally supportive screws.”
She took off her shoes.
Sam was sitting cross-legged on the floor in an old college T-shirt, holding two pieces of wood that clearly did not belong together.
Nora leaned against the doorway.
For twenty minutes they did not discuss Claire.
They argued about crib hardware.
They ordered noodles.
Sam complained about a client who ended every email with three exclamation points.
Nora told him only dangerous people used three exclamation points.
He said she had spent too much time with lawyers.
Later, lying in bed, she told him about Daniel’s suspicion.
Sam was quiet.
“So Claire might be carrying somebody else’s baby.”
“Maybe.”
“And Nolan Pierce is possibly the father.”
“Maybe.”
“And Nolan is Daniel’s CFO.”
“Yes.”
Sam stared at the ceiling.
“Rich people are exhausting.”
“You already said that.”
“I’m developing a theme.”
Nora smiled.
Then Sam turned toward her.
“Do you think Claire killed Rachel?”
The question removed all humor from the room.
Nora stared at him.
“No.”
He waited.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s different.”
“Yes.”
“What do you actually think?”
Nora took time before answering.
“I think Claire lied about Rachel.”
“About what?”
“I think she made Daniel believe Rachel was more unstable than she was. I think she staged things. Maybe not everything. Rachel could be awful when she was angry.”
Sam said nothing.
“She threw a vase at Daniel once.”
“You saw that?”
“Yes.”
“Did it hit him?”
“No.”
“Still not great.”
“No.”
Nora turned onto her back.
“I don’t want to turn Rachel into a saint because she died.”
“Good.”
“I also don’t want every bad thing she did to become proof that Claire told the truth.”
Sam took her hand beneath the blanket.
“That sounds harder.”
“It is.”
Three days later, Mark Leland called Elise Grant.
He did not want to meet.
He did not want his name in any lawsuit.
He did not want to speak to Daniel Mercer.
Elise listened to him for fourteen minutes before asking one question.
“Did Claire Mercer ask you to delete security footage from the foyer?”
Mark went quiet.
“Yes,” he said.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you watch it first?”
Another silence.
“Yes.”
Nora sat across from Elise when the call came.
Sam had insisted on driving her.
Daniel was not present.
“What did it show?” Elise asked.
Mark exhaled.
“It showed two women arguing.”
“Which women?”
“Claire Archer and Rachel Mercer.”
Claire had not yet been a Mercer then.
“What happened?”
“Rachel came in. Claire blocked her from going upstairs. Rachel tried to move past her. Claire grabbed her arm.”
Nora stopped breathing.
Elise’s pen moved.
“Then?”
“Rachel pulled away.”
“Did Rachel strike Claire?”
“No.”
“Did Claire strike Rachel?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“She pushed her.”
Nora looked at the wall.
“How hard?”
“I don’t know. Hard enough that Mrs. Mercer hit the console table.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Elise remained calm.
“What happened after that?”
“Mrs. Mercer left.”
“And Claire?”
“She sat on the floor.”
Nora covered her mouth.
Mark continued.
“Mr. Mercer came downstairs a minute or two later.”
Nora closed her eyes.
The same performance.
Not similar.
The same.
“Did Claire tell you why she wanted the video deleted?” Elise asked.
“She said it was private.”
“Did Daniel know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you tell him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Mark sounded irritated now.
“Because I serviced home systems. I wasn’t a marriage counselor.”
“Why did you comply?”
“Because Claire had administrative access.”
“Was she authorized?”
“She had the code.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Mark was silent.
Then he said, “Probably not.”
When the call ended, Nora sat without speaking.
Elise pushed a box of tissues across the desk.
Nora shook her head.
“I’m not crying.”
May you like
“Fine.”
“I’m really not.”
