Chương 4
“Get out,” Dominic said.
Victor’s expression changed by a fraction.
“You need counsel.”
“I have counsel.”
“You have lawyers. That is not the same thing.”
“Tonight it is.”
Victor buttoned his coat.
“Do not authorize a DNA test without independent chain-of-custody procedures.”
“I already did.”
For the first time, Victor showed unmistakable anger.
“You had no right.”
Dominic stared at him.
Victor recovered quickly. “Legally, I mean. The child is not in your custody.”
“The hospital obtained consent through child services.”
“And your sample?”
“I consented to it.”
“You have created discoverable evidence before understanding the claim.”
“I’m trying to find out whether she’s my niece.”
“You’re trying to relieve your guilt.”
The words landed because they were not entirely wrong.
Victor picked up his briefcase.
“When the result arrives, call me before you act.”
“I won’t.”
“You will,” Victor said. “Because whatever that test says, the child will not be the only person affected.”
He left with the steady walk of a man who had spent his career exiting rooms before anyone could claim he had been thrown out.
Andrea Bell emerged from Mara’s room shortly afterward.
“She says her mother died twelve days ago,” Andrea said.
Dominic leaned against the wall.
“Where?”
“St. Anne’s Community Hospital in Newark.”
“That’s forty miles from here.”
“She and her mother were staying in a weekly-rate motel. Her mother was admitted through the emergency department and died the next morning.”
“Why wasn’t the child placed with social services?”
“She was.”
Dominic looked at Andrea.
“For three days. Emergency foster home. She ran.”
“At six?”
“Six-year-olds can open doors.”
“How did she get here?”
“Bus for part of it. Walking for some. She says a man in a red pickup let her ride in the back until she got scared and jumped out at a traffic light.”
DeMarco swore under his breath.
Andrea continued. “She slept in a church boiler room. A volunteer found her, fed her, and called police. She ran again before officers arrived.”
“Why?”
“She believed they would send her back to the foster home.”
“What happened there?”
“She won’t say.”
Dominic looked through the glass.
Umbral lay on the hospital floor, but his eyes remained open.
“How did she find my address?”
“Her mother gave her an envelope with a magazine clipping about your estate. Your security gate is visible from the county road. She recognized the stone pillars.”
“She walked from the road?”
“About two miles.”
“In this weather.”
“Yes.”
His mind searched for someone to blame quickly enough to avoid feeling the whole thing.
“The foster family—”
“Has already been contacted. No prior complaints. Two other children in the home. The foster mother says Mara became frightened when she tried to wash the girl’s clothes.”
“That doesn’t explain running.”
“No,” Andrea said. “It explains that we don’t know yet.”
“Can I speak with her?”
Andrea studied him. “You can sit with her. Speaking is her decision.”
The room smelled of disinfectant, warmed plastic, and the faint animal scent of Umbral’s wet coat.
Mara had been changed into hospital pajamas patterned with small green planets. Her old clothes sat in a clear evidence bag on the counter. She watched it as though someone might steal it.
Dominic sat in a chair near the door.
For several minutes, neither of them spoke.
A medical monitor beeped. Shoes squeaked beyond the curtain. Umbral shifted his head from his paws to Mara’s mattress.
“Is he really yours?” Mara asked.
“Yes.”
“He doesn’t like you.”
“He used to.”
She considered that. “Maybe you did something.”
Dominic looked at the dog.
“That’s possible.”
“Mom said he slept outside her room.”
“When he was a puppy.”
“He chewed a blue shoe.”
Dominic’s head turned.
Elena had owned blue suede heels their father hated. Umbral had destroyed the left one. Dominic had found his sister in the laundry room at two in the morning, laughing so hard she had tears on her face while the puppy hid inside a wicker basket.
No trainer knew that.
No lawyer did either.
“What else did she tell you?” he asked.
Mara’s expression closed.
He had asked too quickly.
“Never mind.”
“She said you asked questions when you were scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
Mara looked at him without speaking.
Dominic adjusted his cuff, though it did not need adjusting.
The child noticed.
“Mom did that too.”
“What?”
“Fixed things that weren’t broken.”
He let his hand fall.
A nurse entered to check the IV. Mara stiffened when the woman reached for the blanket, but she allowed the examination after the nurse explained each movement.
Dominic watched her wince as the stethoscope touched her back.
The bruising was visible then. Yellow at the edges, darker near one shoulder blade.
“Who did that?” he asked.
Mara turned sharply.
The nurse looked at him. “Mr. Vasquez.”
He stood.
“I’m sorry.”
Mara’s breathing had changed.
Umbral rose.
Dominic left the room before the dog had to decide what to do with him.
The DNA result would take at least two days, even with a private laboratory handling expedited testing under the county’s supervision. Dominic spent the first night in a hospital conference room because Mara became agitated whenever he left the floor but refused to admit she wanted him nearby.
At four in the morning, he woke with his cheek against a legal pad.
DeMarco sat across from him, jacket off, reading security reports on a tablet.
“Did you sleep?” Dominic asked.
“Not really.”
“Good.”
DeMarco looked up.
Dominic rubbed his face. “That came out wrong.”
“It came out like you.”
Outside the conference room, a vending machine hummed.
Dominic poured water from a plastic pitcher.
“You knew Umbral’s first name.”
“Yes.”
“Victor knew you knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
DeMarco set down the tablet.
“I was assigned to Elena for eleven months.”
Dominic stopped pouring.
“When?”
“Fifteen years ago.”
“You worked for my father then.”
“Yes.”
May you like
“You told me you joined the family office after she left.”
“I joined your personal detail after she left.”
