Chương 13
“Yes.”
“Why isn’t that enough?”
“It may be. Trials don’t happen in phone calls, Mr. Cross.”
Daniel rubbed his eyes. “I’m learning.”
“There’s another possibility. Her counsel has approached the district attorney about a negotiated resolution.”
“What does that mean for Mia?”
“It may mean she would not testify in a trial against Evelyn.”
“What would Evelyn admit?”
“Discussions are preliminary.”
“Would she go to jail?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel felt immediate relief, followed by shame for feeling it.
Mia would not have to sit in a courtroom while Evelyn’s lawyers questioned her memory. Evelyn might also avoid the public judgment Daniel believed she deserved.
“When will we know?”
“Not soon.”
After the call, Daniel drove to school.
Mia emerged beside Sophie, carrying a paper model of the solar system. Saturn had lost part of one ring.
“How was it?” he asked.
“Fine.”
“What happened to Saturn?”
“Carter sat on it.”
“On purpose?”
“He says no.”
“Do you believe him?”
“No.”
Sophie’s mother waved from another car.
Mia climbed into the passenger seat.
As Daniel pulled away, she said, “Everyone stared.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Mrs. Hale said I could eat lunch in her office.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Then everyone would know I didn’t want them staring.”
Daniel considered this logic.
“Did anyone say something mean?”
“Carter asked if Grandma was going to jail.”
“I heard.”
“He said his dad works for Cross Meridian and might lose his job.”
Daniel glanced at her.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“That was okay.”
“I wanted to tell him it wasn’t my fault.”
“It isn’t.”
“But his dad might still lose his job.”
“Yes.”
She held the damaged solar system on her lap.
“Can something be not your fault and still happen because of you?”
Daniel slowed for a red light.
“Yes.”
“That’s bad.”
“Sometimes.”
“What do you do?”
“You decide whether the thing you did was right. Then you help with the harm you can help with.”
“What harm can I help with?”
“You can be kind to Carter even if he’s being an idiot.”
“That’s not much.”
“No.”
The light changed.
Mia adjusted Saturn’s broken ring with one finger. “Can we buy tape?”
“Yes.”
Cross Meridian’s board removed Julian as chief executive in December.
The company appointed an interim leader from outside the family. Evelyn resigned as chair as part of a separate agreement with lenders. The stock began to stabilize, though hundreds of employees were laid off from divisions dependent on projects Julian had overextended.
Tara kept her new job.
Daniel received messages from former colleagues. Some expressed support. Some blamed him. One accused him of using Mia’s injuries to win a family power struggle.
He deleted that message, then recovered it from the trash and saved it for his attorney.
Mia attended therapy with a psychologist named Dr. Shah, who kept a basket of smooth stones on her desk. Mia disliked the stones because she believed adults used them to avoid asking direct questions.
During the fourth session, Dr. Shah invited Daniel into the room.
“Mia says you apologize too much,” she told him.
Daniel looked at his daughter.
“You do,” Mia said.
“I have things to apologize for.”
“You say sorry when you’re late. You say sorry when dinner is bad. You say sorry when I have a nightmare.”
“I’m sorry you have nightmares.”
“That one.”
Dr. Shah crossed one ankle over the other. “What does the apology ask Mia to do?”
“Nothing.”
Mia picked up a gray stone and turned it over.
“It asks me to say it’s okay.”
Daniel opened his mouth, then closed it.
Dr. Shah waited.
“I don’t mean to,” he said.
“I know,” Mia replied.
“What should I say?”
She shrugged.
Dr. Shah did not supply an answer.
Daniel hated therapy for the same reason Mia disliked the stones. It left too much work with the people who had arrived because they did not know what to do.
Finally he said, “I’m here.”
Mia looked at him.
“Maybe that,” she said.
At home, they stopped using sorry as a response to nightmares.
When Mia woke, Daniel sat beside the bed and said, “I’m here.”
Sometimes she told him to leave.
Sometimes he stayed.
In January, prosecutors offered Evelyn a plea agreement. She would admit to attempting to improperly influence Mia’s testimony and accept a sentence that could include home confinement, probation, financial penalties, and restrictions on contact. The final terms remained subject to judicial approval.
Simone explained the proposal to Mia in a conference room at the district attorney’s office.
“Will she say what she did?” Mia asked.
“She would have to answer questions in court and admit certain facts.”
“Will she say she threatened me?”
“She may use different legal words.”
“Then she isn’t admitting it.”
“She would be accepting responsibility for conduct that includes the things she said.”
“That sounds like hiding.”
Daniel watched Mia’s face.
Simone placed a printed summary on the table. “You can write a statement about how her actions affected you. You may also tell the prosecutor that you want a trial. Your view will be considered.”
“But I don’t decide.”
“No.”
Mia pushed the paper away.
“What happens if there’s a trial?”
“You may testify. The defense may ask you questions. The recording would likely be played. The process could take months.”
“Would Grandma be in the room?”
“Yes.”
“Would she look at me?”
“Probably.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“What happens if she takes the deal?” Mia asked.
“You likely would not testify against her. There would still be a court hearing.”
“Would she go home?”
“She is already living at home under release conditions.”
“I mean would everything be over?”
“No.”
“Then what would be over?”
“The question of whether she committed that offense.”
Mia stared at the printed page.
May you like
On the drive back to the apartment, she said nothing.
Daniel stopped at a grocery store. They walked slowly through the aisles because her shoulder still tired easily. In the cereal section, she placed two boxes in the cart.
