Chương 12
“Because when I saw the envelope, I stopped being your mother for one second.”
Emily frowned.
“What were you?”
Laura’s eyes moved somewhere far away.
“A frightened twenty-one-year-old woman with a baby.”
Daniel listened.
Laura touched Emily’s hand.
“I saw you opening it and thought if you knew, then somehow he would know too.”
“The husband?”
Laura looked at her.
“I can’t answer that yet.”
Emily pulled her hand away.
The fragile warmth vanished.
Laura accepted it.
Daniel said, “You understand how bad that sounds.”
“Yes.”
“Like there’s more than one person.”
Laura did not answer.
Daniel exhaled.
“Right.”
At eight twelve, Bell called.
The investigator had obtained additional archived material and requested that the family remain at the resort until she returned.
Laura’s attorney arrived first.
Her name was Helen Cho. She was fifty, compact, practical, and visibly unimpressed by the luxury suite.
She shook Laura’s hand.
“Ms. Mercer?”
Laura hesitated.
“Laura is fine.”
Helen looked at Daniel and Emily.
“I represent Laura only. Not the family.”
Daniel nodded.
“Good.”
Helen gave him a curious look.
“Most spouses don’t say good.”
“Most spouses aren’t having this morning.”
Helen accepted that.
She met privately with Laura in the bedroom.
Daniel ordered breakfast.
Emily ate pancakes.
Daniel drank coffee.
Neither commented on the fact that Laura had not eaten since the previous afternoon.
When she came out an hour later, Daniel pushed a plate toward her.
She looked at it.
“You should eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“I didn’t ask.”
She sat and ate half a piece of toast.
It was such an ordinary marital gesture that all three of them noticed.
Daniel stood abruptly and went to the window.
Laura stopped eating.
Emily looked between them.
“This is going to be awful for a while, isn’t it?”
Daniel nodded.
Laura said, “Yes.”
Emily sighed.
“Great.”
Bell returned shortly after ten.
O’Connell came with her despite technically being finished with the stop.
Daniel noticed.
“You didn’t have to come.”
O’Connell shrugged.
“I wanted my ending.”
Bell gave him a look.
“Don’t say that in front of people.”
He nodded toward Daniel.
“See? Six months late.”
Daniel smiled.
Then Bell placed a file folder on the dining table.
Everyone became serious.
Helen sat beside Laura.
Bell remained standing.
“I’ve reviewed enough of the old case to tell you two things.”
Laura’s hands tightened.
“First, the person listed as Rebecca Hale’s husband was the one who reported her missing.”
Daniel nodded.
“Second, the man in the Polaroid does not appear anywhere in the material I’ve reviewed so far.”
Emily stared at the table.
“So nobody knows who he is.”
“Not from the file I have.”
“Can you find out?”
Bell glanced at Laura.
“Possibly.”
Laura’s attorney said, “My client is not answering questions identifying third parties until we understand the legal and safety implications.”
Emily’s jaw tightened.
Helen looked at her.
“I understand that’s frustrating.”
“You don’t.”
Helen nodded.
“You’re right.”
That defused more anger than an argument would have.
Bell continued.
“There’s something else. Rebecca’s husband gave inconsistent statements about the baby.”
Laura closed her eyes.
Bell looked at her.
“You expected that.”
Laura whispered, “Yes.”
“He initially claimed the child was with relatives.”
Emily stared.
“Me?”
Bell nodded.
“Later he reported both mother and child missing.”
Daniel asked, “Why would he lie?”
Bell said, “I don’t know.”
Laura said nothing.
Daniel looked at her.
“You do.”
“I know what I thought then.”
“And?”
Laura looked at Helen.
Helen said quietly, “You don’t have to answer.”
Laura looked at Daniel.
Then at Emily.
“I thought he needed time.”
Emily’s voice was barely audible.
“For what?”
Laura’s hands trembled.
“I can’t do this halfway.”
Helen leaned toward her.
“You don’t have to do it at all today.”
Laura gave a small, exhausted laugh.
“Yes, I do.”
Helen frowned.
Laura looked at Emily.
“If I postpone this again, I will find another reason tomorrow.”
Daniel did not move.
Laura continued.
“And the next day.”
Emily swallowed.
“So tell us.”
Laura stood.
She walked to the window.
Below them, resort employees were shoveling a terrace. A child in a red snowsuit threw himself into a snowbank while his father tried to stop him.
Laura watched.
“When you were a baby, you hated socks.”
Emily blinked.
“What?”
“You pulled them off constantly. I would put them on, turn around, and one would be gone.”
Daniel looked at Emily.
“You still do that.”
“My feet get hot.”
Laura smiled faintly.
“You had one yellow sock with a duck on it. I found it in my coat pocket months after we left.”
Her voice changed.
“I kept it for years.”
Emily sat very still.
Laura turned from the window.
“That’s the kind of thing I remember first. Not the running.”
Daniel’s eyes fixed on her.
“The running.”
Laura nodded.
Helen watched her client carefully.
Bell did not interrupt.
Laura took a breath.
“My husband believed he owned every decision in our house.”
Nobody spoke.
Laura looked toward Helen.
The attorney said softly, “You can stop whenever you need.”
“I know.”
She looked at Emily again.
“There are things I’m not going to describe until I know more about where people are now. Not because you’re a child. Because names connect people.”
Emily nodded slowly.
Laura’s eyes filled.
“I was planning to leave before you were born.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Because of him?”
“Yes.”
“The husband.”
“Yes.”
Emily asked, “Was he my father?”
Laura looked at her.
“No.”
The answer was quiet and absolute.
Emily’s breath caught.
Daniel closed his eyes.
The unknown man in the Polaroid seemed to enter the room without being there.
Emily whispered, “Then the man in the picture…”
Laura looked toward the evidence folder Bell had brought.
“Yes.”
Emily waited.
Laura did not say more.
“What’s his name?”
Laura’s face tightened.
Helen started to speak.
Laura stopped her with a hand.
“I will tell you.”
Emily stared.
“Today?”
“Yes.”
“But not yet.”
“One more thing has to be checked.”
Emily stood.
May you like
“What?”
Laura looked at Bell.
