Chương 5
Daniel’s anger shifted.
“What things?”
Emily laughed once.
“There. You did it again.”
“What?”
“I tell you something about my life and you ask what information it gives you.”
Daniel looked as though she had slapped him.
Rachel said, “Emily.”
“No. It’s fine.”
Emily picked up her purse.
“I’ll give a statement about what I saw. I’ll tell the truth. But I am not spending the next week being interrogated because our mother lied to us.”
Daniel said, “She lied to me.”
Emily stopped.
“Yes.”
“To me.”
Emily turned.
“You think the lie stopped with you?”
She left.
The teal front door of Margaret’s house remained in Rachel’s mind for the rest of the day.
She remembered it opening as the paramedics entered.
She remembered Margaret standing behind the stretcher.
She remembered the handbag.
At four that afternoon, Claire called.
Rachel almost ignored it.
She answered because Claire had texted first asking whether she was okay.
“I’m bruised,” Rachel said.
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.”
Claire hesitated.
“I cleaned the stairs.”
Rachel looked at the ceiling.
“Okay.”
“That sounded stupid.”
“A little.”
“I didn’t know what else to say.”
Rachel heard a dog barking somewhere near Claire’s end of the call.
Claire did not own a dog.
She was probably walking.
“I keep thinking about what Margaret said,” Claire continued.
Rachel waited.
“She said she never touched you.”
“Yes.”
“Before Daniel asked anything.”
“Yes.”
“I noticed it too.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“Did you see what happened?”
“No. I was looking at Emily. She was telling me about the thermostat.”
That was so Claire that Rachel believed it immediately.
“But I heard the crash. Then Daniel asked what happened. Margaret said you slipped and she never touched you.”
“I remember.”
“I told myself she was in shock.”
“Maybe she was.”
Claire was quiet.
“I stayed with her last night.”
Rachel sat up.
“What did she say?”
“Mostly that you had misunderstood letters.”
“Did she touch my handbag?”
“I don’t know.”
“Claire.”
“I was in the kitchen getting towels. When I came back, Daniel had already picked it up.”
“So she had time.”
“Yes.”
“Did you see her near it?”
“No.”
Rachel rubbed her forehead.
Claire said, “She kept asking whether you’d read everything.”
“What did you say?”
“That I didn’t know.”
“Then?”
“She said, ‘Good.’”
Rachel looked toward Daniel, who was sitting at the other end of the couch with his laptop open but not reading it.
“Did she say who Daniel’s biological father is?”
“No.”
“Did she say whether Charles knew?”
Claire took longer to answer.
“She said Charles made everything harder.”
Daniel heard that.
He closed the laptop.
Rachel put the phone on speaker.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
Claire exhaled.
“Oh. Hi, Daniel.”
“What did she mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She said your father was sentimental.”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
Claire rushed on.
“I’m not saying that was fair. I’m telling you exactly what she said.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“She asked whether Emily had spoken to you.”
Daniel and Rachel looked at each other.
“Why?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Claire.”
“I don’t.”
He pushed himself up from the couch.
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
Claire’s voice cooled.
“Because everybody except your mother has spent thirty-eight years being denied the information you suddenly want in twenty-four hours.”
Daniel stopped.
Rachel watched the sentence reach him.
Claire continued more gently.
“I’m sorry. But that’s true.”
Daniel sat down again.
Claire said, “There was one other thing.”
“What?”
“She said she had done what she had to do to keep the family together.”
Rachel felt cold.
Daniel said, “That could mean anything.”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t think it does.”
“No.”
Margaret came to their house the next morning.
Rachel saw her through the front window before the bell rang.
Navy coat.
Black pants.
Leather gloves.
Her silver-gray hair perfectly arranged.
Daniel was upstairs.
Rachel stood in the living room with her injured wrist against her chest and watched Margaret press the doorbell.
She did not open the door.
Margaret rang again.
Then she knocked.
“Rachel.”
The glass beside the door distorted her face slightly.
“Rachel, I know you’re there.”
Rachel took out her phone.
“I’m not opening the door.”
Margaret’s shoulders moved.
“Please.”
“You should leave.”
“I need to speak to Daniel.”
“You can call him.”
“He won’t answer.”
“That’s his decision.”
Margaret looked toward the second-floor windows.
“Rachel, you have created a situation that is becoming much larger than it needs to be.”
Rachel almost admired the sentence.
“My wrist is fractured.”
“I know.”
“You grabbed me.”
“I tried to stop you.”
“From what?”
Margaret said nothing.
“From carrying stuffing downstairs?”
“You took something that did not belong to you.”
“So you did know about the letter.”
Margaret’s expression closed.
“Open the door.”
“No.”
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
Rachel’s skin prickled.
“I didn’t say you were.”
Margaret looked away.
The same mistake.
Again.
Rachel said, “Did you take it from my handbag?”
Margaret removed one glove.
She folded it carefully in her bare hand.
“Your father-in-law wrote private letters to his wife.”
“You took it.”
“It belonged to me.”
Daniel’s voice came from behind Rachel.
“So did you.”
Margaret’s face changed.
Daniel opened the door only as far as the chain allowed.
His mother looked at him through the narrow gap.
For one second she seemed older than she had the day before.
“Daniel.”
“Did you take the letter?”
“Yes.”
Rachel had expected denial.
Daniel had too.
It disoriented both of them.
Margaret continued before either could speak.
“I panicked.”
Daniel stared.
“You stole it out of Rachel’s bag.”
“It was mine.”
“You grabbed her.”
“I was trying to get the letter back.”
“You told her I’m not Dad’s son.”
“No.” Margaret’s voice sharpened. “You are your father’s son.”
“Biologically?”
She looked at him.
Daniel waited.
Margaret looked away first.
“No.”
The word entered the house without her.
Rachel watched Daniel’s grip tighten on the edge of the door.
May you like
“Who?”
Margaret said, “Not here.”
