Chương 4
“You’ve been going through Mom’s accounts?”
“She asked for help.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to investigate us.”
“I wasn’t investigating anybody.”
“You work at a marketing company, Claire. You’re not the FBI.”
“I can read a bank statement.”
Rachel’s jaw tightened.
Claire kept her voice low.
“I have screenshots.”
“Delete them.”
“No.”
“You have no idea what she agreed to.”
“Then explain it.”
“I don’t have to explain my relationship with my mother to you.”
“Maybe not to me.”
Rachel stepped closer.
“Don’t do this today.”
“I didn’t start it today.”
“No, you started it the minute you decided being married to Daniel made you the family auditor.”
Claire laughed once.
It was not a happy sound.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The part where this becomes about me.”
Rachel lowered her voice further.
“Daniel is already exhausted. Mom is barely holding it together. You have a four-month-old and look like you haven’t slept since August. Maybe you don’t need another problem to solve.”
Claire had felt the insult immediately.
The deeper wound arrived afterward.
Look like you haven’t slept.
Everyone said it.
Everyone saw it.
“I’m telling Daniel after dinner.”
Rachel went still.
“You wouldn’t.”
“If your mother won’t.”
“She asked you not to.”
“She asked me for a week.”
“You don’t understand what she agreed to.”
“Then tell me.”
Rachel’s eyes flicked toward the staircase.
Someone downstairs called for more ice.
Rachel stepped away.
“Not here.”
“After dinner.”
“I said not here.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Rachel carried the towels into the guest bathroom and closed the door.
Claire had stood in the hallway for several seconds, breathing too fast, angry enough that her fingertips tingled.
Then Owen cried downstairs.
She went to him.
In the hospital, Detective Vega said, “And you didn’t think that was worth mentioning?”
Claire looked at the water cup.
“I didn’t think Rachel would drug me over money.”
“How much money?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Estimate.”
“More than thirty thousand.”
Vega stopped writing.
Claire hated the silence.
“She wouldn’t hurt Owen.”
“Did you tell Rachel you had evidence on your phone?”
“Yes.”
“Where was the phone during dinner?”
“In my purse.”
“Where was the purse?”
Claire opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
“At first it was on the back of my chair.”
“At first?”
“I moved it.”
“When?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Try.”
Claire pressed two fingers to her temple.
The dining room came back in pieces.
Turkey.
Susan laughing.
Owen fussing.
Rachel passing behind her.
Evelyn complaining that the stuffing needed salt.
Claire reaching for her phone to check the time and not finding it in the purse.
Then finding it under her napkin?
No.
She had found it in the carrier pocket.
Or had Daniel placed it there when he arrived?
“I don’t know.”
Vega did not push immediately.
“Tell me about the bottles.”
Claire described the red mark.
“One marked bottle?”
“Yes.”
“And how many bottles did you bring?”
“Two.”
“Both full?”
“Yes.”
“One marked, one unmarked?”
“Yes.”
“Why mark only one?”
“The marked one was the first bottle I made that morning. It had breast milk. The other was formula.”
“Would either be dangerous?”
“No.”
“Would Owen react differently?”
“Not dangerously. He prefers the first one.”
“Did Evelyn know the distinction?”
“Yes.”
“Rachel?”
“Probably.”
“Why did you think Evelyn switched them?”
Claire looked away.
“Because the marked bottle was beside her.”
“That’s all?”
“No.”
“What else?”
“I saw her near the carrier.”
“When?”
“Before dinner.”
“Doing what?”
“I thought she was moving the bottle.”
“Thought?”
Claire could feel irritation rising, even though she knew Vega was doing her job.
“I saw the beige sleeve.”
“Evelyn was wearing beige.”
“Yes.”
“Anyone else?”
Claire pictured the dining room.
Rachel had worn a camel-colored wrap over a black dress when she arrived. She took it off before dinner.
“I don’t know.”
“Claire.”
“I was getting dizzy.”
“That matters.”
“I know.”
“Did you see Evelyn’s face?”
“No.”
“Her hand?”
“No.”
“Did you see anyone actually exchange one bottle for another?”
“No.”
The answer left Claire feeling smaller.
Vega closed the notebook.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“The officers at the house found the bottle you dropped, the red-marked bottle, and the bottle under your napkin.”
Claire frowned.
“There should only be two.”
“That’s what you said.”
“There were only two.”
“Could Evelyn own one?”
Claire stared at her.
Evelyn did own bottles.
Several.
She had bought the same brand.
Vega watched the answer reach Claire before Claire spoke.
“I don’t know.”
“Then that’s what we’ll work with.”
When Daniel came back into the room, Claire said nothing about Rachel.
Not until two in the morning.
They were alone except for Owen, asleep in the bassinet beside the window.
Daniel had been sitting in the chair scrolling through messages without answering them.
Claire said, “Your sister took money from your mother.”
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
She told him.
His first reaction was disbelief.
His second was anger at Evelyn.
“Why didn’t she call me?”
“She didn’t want to.”
“I’m her son.”
“That was part of the problem.”
“What does that mean?”
“She didn’t want you managing her.”
“So she called you?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“She asked me not to.”
Daniel stood.
“You knew somebody had taken thirty thousand dollars from my mother and you didn’t tell me?”
“She asked me for a week.”
“It was two weeks.”
“I know.”
“That’s not your decision.”
“It wasn’t my money.”
“She’s my mother.”
“And she’s an adult.”
Daniel turned away.
Claire watched the back of his navy jacket, now hanging over the chair instead of on him.
“You’re angry at the wrong person.”
“I can be angry at more than one person.”
“Great.”
“Claire.”
“No, that’s great. Your sister steals from your mother, somebody drugs me, your mother collapses, and somehow you’ve still found room to be mad at me.”
“I’m not blaming you for tonight.”
“It sounds close.”
May you like
Daniel pressed both palms against the windowsill.
Outside, the parking lot lights cast pale circles on wet pavement.
