Chương 10
“You would’ve gotten me hurt.”
“Maybe not.”
“Marcus said he would.”
“Marcus lies.”
Sophie considered this.
“That’s true.”
Caleb turned toward her.
“I should’ve known.”
“You’re not Dad.”
“What?”
“Dad thinks he should know everything.”
Caleb laughed.
From the kitchen, Hannah covered her mouth.
Owen, who had come over to repair a cabinet hinge, whispered, “That felt targeted.”
“It was.”
“You enjoyed it.”
“A little.”
The children heard them.
For the first time since returning home, Sophie climbed beneath Caleb’s blanket and stayed there until morning.
The prosecutor offered Marcus a plea agreement in early summer.
The charges included attempted kidnapping of Sophie, kidnapping of Caleb, unlawful imprisonment, stalking-related conduct, and other offenses tied to the planning. Trevor’s cooperation strengthened the case. So did the tablet, the false message, Marcus’s retained terminal placard, and video from multiple locations.
Marcus’s attorney wanted a reduced sentencing recommendation in exchange for guilty pleas.
Hannah’s first response was no.
She did not know exactly what she was refusing.
She refused anyway.
The prosecutor met with her and Owen in a small office near the courthouse.
“A plea means the children may not have to testify at trial.”
Hannah looked at him.
“May not?”
“The defense can still litigate certain issues before a plea is entered. But yes, the likelihood decreases significantly.”
Owen asked, “What would the sentence be?”
The prosecutor gave a range, carefully explaining that a judge would make the final decision and that criminal sentencing depended on the specific convictions and Marcus’s history.
Hannah listened.
“It’s not enough.”
The prosecutor did not tell her she was wrong.
That helped.
“What would be enough?” he asked.
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came.
Life imprisonment sounded satisfying for half a second.
Then absurd.
Ten years.
Twenty.
Fifty.
She discovered numbers did not contain what she wanted.
She wanted the loading deck erased.
She wanted Caleb not to know the sound of a van hatch closing above him.
She wanted Sophie to stop checking every black vehicle in parking lots.
She wanted Owen to have told her the truth a year earlier.
She wanted a version of herself who had noticed the tablet was missing.
No sentence could provide any of that.
“I don’t know,” she said.
The prosecutor nodded.
Owen asked whether the children would have any say.
“Their views can be communicated to the court through appropriate channels. I would not make them responsible for deciding the outcome.”
Hannah looked at him sharply.
“Good.”
Outside the courthouse, Owen bought coffee from a cart.
Hannah took hers, tasted it, and made a face.
“This is terrible.”
“You asked for coffee.”
“I asked for coffee, not burned regret.”
Owen smiled.
She did not.
Then she did, briefly.
They sat on a low concrete wall.
Traffic moved through the intersection.
A man walked past carrying an enormous bundle of flowers.
Hannah watched him.
Owen folded the cardboard sleeve around his cup until it tore.
“You’re doing that thing,” she said.
“What thing?”
“Destroying objects instead of talking.”
“I have a lot of things.”
“Pick one.”
He looked at the torn sleeve.
“I want the plea.”
She had expected that.
She was still angry.
“Why?”
“I don’t want Caleb on a witness stand.”
“He might not have to.”
“Might.”
“He told the interviewer what happened.”
“That was a room with toys and a woman trained to talk to children.”
“He’s ten, Owen. He knows what court is.”
“Exactly.”
Hannah stared at the traffic.
“You’re scared.”
“Yes.”
“Of him testifying?”
“Yes.”
“Or of what he might say about you?”
Owen flinched.
She regretted it immediately.
Not because the question was completely unfair.
Because she had chosen the most painful version on purpose.
“Hannah.”
“Sorry.”
He looked surprised.
She hated that too.
“I’m not saying take it back. Just—”
“I shouldn’t have said it that way.”
Owen nodded.
After a while he said, “I am scared of what the kids think of me.”
Hannah waited.
“But I’m more scared of asking Caleb to be brave so I can feel like Marcus got punished enough.”
That stayed with her.
Daniel brought Scout to the Reed apartment that Saturday.
Sophie opened the door before Hannah reached it.
Scout nearly pulled Daniel off balance.
The dog entered like he had been paying rent.
Caleb came out of his room.
For the first few minutes, he said nothing.
Then Scout knocked a bowl of pretzels from the coffee table with his tail.
Caleb laughed.
Sophie yelled, “He did it on purpose.”
“He has no idea pretzels exist,” Daniel said.
Scout ate one.
Daniel sighed.
“Correction.”
Hannah brought out coffee.
Daniel accepted it.
Owen was not there.
Daniel noticed but did not ask.
He had learned that families did not owe explanations to men who happened to tackle kidnappers.
Sophie wanted to show Scout her backpack.
The yellow duct tape had begun peeling.
Daniel sat at the dining table while she pressed it down.
“You could sew that.”
“No.”
“Okay.”
“Yellow stays.”
“Okay.”
“You keep saying okay.”
“I’m trying not to get in trouble.”
Sophie considered this reasonable.
Caleb sat across from him.
“Did you get in trouble?”
Daniel looked at Hannah.
She did not rescue him.
“Yes.”
“For saving us?”
“No.”
“For what?”
Daniel could have simplified.
He did not.
“Marcus had an old vehicle permit from when he worked at the terminal. It should have been collected. I knew it was missing and didn’t make sure it got handled.”
Caleb stared at him.
“So he got in because of you?”
Hannah inhaled.
Daniel answered before she could.
“No. He got onto the ferry normally. The permit made it easier for him to look like he belonged in a place he wasn’t supposed to stay.”
“So kind of.”
“Kind of.”
Sophie looked up from the backpack.
“Did you know he was going to take us?”
“No.”
“Then it’s not the same.”
Caleb said, “That’s what Mom says about me.”
Daniel looked at him.
Caleb’s expression was challenging.
Not angry exactly.
May you like
Testing.
Daniel understood.
