Chương 5
“No,” Daniel said.
The lie entered the room quietly.
Reed studied him.
“All right.”
Daniel disliked the detective’s lack of reaction. Anger might have been easier. Suspicion might have given him something to resist.
Instead, Reed stood.
“If that changes, call me.”
Daniel remained beneath the smiling lungs after the detective left.
He took out his phone and opened the hidden folder.
The message was still there.
He did not play it.
He locked the screen and went back to his daughter.
Mia was discharged four days later with instructions that filled nine pages. No running, no stairs without assistance, no showering alone, no lifting more than five pounds with her left arm, no return to school until cleared by her doctor. Daniel nodded through each direction and forgot half of them before they reached the elevator.
Claire walked them to the hospital entrance.
Outside, two reporters stood beyond the circular drive. A camera operator lifted his lens when Daniel appeared with Mia in a wheelchair.
Claire stopped.
“We can use the service exit.”
Mia looked at the reporters. “Will they follow us?”
“Maybe,” Daniel said.
“Then it won’t matter which door.”
He wished she had not learned that so quickly.
A hospital security officer helped them into a borrowed sedan. Daniel’s company car had been recalled that morning. The message from fleet management called it a routine reassignment during his leave.
His access card to Cross Meridian headquarters had also been deactivated.
He drove Mia to a furnished apartment belonging to Rebecca, his sister. She kept it in the city for consulting work and had texted the lock code without calling. Their house had become impractical after photographers appeared near the driveway. More importantly, Evelyn owned the mortgage through a family trust.
The apartment was on the sixth floor of a brick building overlooking a bus depot. It had one bedroom, a narrow kitchen, and a couch that unfolded with a noise like tearing metal. Rebecca had filled the refrigerator before flying back to Oregon. She had left a note on the counter.
No speeches. Eat the soup. Call me when you’re ready.
Mia read it twice.
“Aunt Rebecca doesn’t like Grandma.”
“They disagree.”
“She hasn’t come to Christmas in two years.”
“They strongly disagree.”
“Grandma says she’s selfish.”
“Grandma says many things.”
Mia lowered herself carefully onto the couch. “Is Aunt Rebecca selfish?”
Daniel opened the refrigerator. Three containers of soup occupied the top shelf beside orange juice, milk, and a six-pack of ginger ale.
“Sometimes.”
“Are you?”
“Yes.”
“Am I?”
“Sometimes.”
“Was Mom?”
Daniel held the refrigerator door open longer than necessary.
“Yes.”
Mia looked satisfied. “Okay.”
He heated the soup. She ate seven spoonfuls and said she was full. He ate the rest standing over the sink.
That evening, Julian came to the building.
He did not call ahead. The doorman phoned the apartment and said a family member was in the lobby.
Daniel knew before he asked which one.
“Send him away.”
Mia was sitting at the small dining table, trying to complete a math worksheet with her right hand. Her left arm was secured in a sling.
“Is it Uncle Julian?”
Daniel covered the phone receiver. “Keep working.”
“That means yes.”
He told the doorman again not to let Julian upstairs.
Twenty minutes later, someone knocked.
Daniel looked through the peephole.
Julian stood in the hallway wearing a navy coat over a sweater. The bruising along his jaw had faded to yellow. A narrow cut crossed his eyebrow. His left hand was bandaged.
Daniel opened the door but kept the security chain fastened.
“How did you get up here?”
“Someone was leaving.”
“Go home.”
“I need five minutes.”
“No.”
“Danny.”
Mia’s pencil stopped moving behind him.
Daniel stepped into the hall and pulled the door nearly closed. “You are not coming inside.”
Julian looked past him through the gap.
“How is she?”
“You had four days to ask.”
“I called.”
“You called me.”
“I didn’t want to upset her.”
Daniel stared at him.
Julian lowered his voice. “Can we not do this in the hallway?”
“We’re not doing it anywhere.”
“Mom was arrested.”
“I noticed.”
“She made a terrible mistake.”
“She threatened Mia twice.”
“I didn’t know about the first time.”
“What about the second?”
“I didn’t send her.”
“You didn’t have to.”
A door opened farther down the hall. An elderly man emerged holding a small terrier. He glanced at the brothers, then bent to adjust the dog’s red sweater.
Julian waited until the elevator doors closed behind them.
“This is getting out of control.”
“No. It was out of control when you drove into a wall with my daughter in the back seat.”
Julian’s eyes shifted.
There it was. Not guilt exactly. Recognition.
Daniel felt a coldness spread through his chest.
“You were driving.”
“Keep your voice down.”
“You were.”
“We need to discuss what Mia thinks she saw.”
Daniel stepped closer. “Say she’s confused.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Say it.”
Julian exhaled. “She had a head injury.”
“She did not have a head injury.”
“She was in shock.”
“You left her trapped.”
“I got out to find help.”
“You gave Peter the keys.”
Julian looked toward the stairwell.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Mia.”
“She couldn’t see clearly.”
“You just told me you didn’t say she was confused.”
Julian rubbed his bandaged hand. “I made a mistake.”
Daniel waited.
“I looked at my phone,” Julian continued. “For a second. The road turned. Peter grabbed the wheel. Everything happened at once.”
“Who was driving?”
“You know the answer.”
“I want to hear you say it.”
Julian’s face tightened. “What good does that do?”
“It tells me whether there is any part of you left that knows what you did.”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a stranger.”
“I don’t know who you are.”
“That’s convenient.”
May you like
Daniel almost laughed.
Julian’s voice sharpened. “You worked beside me for fifteen years. You signed the same contracts. You sat in the same meetings. You took the same money from her.”
