Chương 8
He almost laughed.
Instead she hugged him.
For several seconds they stood among rolling suitcases, winter coats, announcements, strangers arguing over rideshares, and people carrying coffees through the enormous station.
Then Leah whispered into his shoulder, “She’s alive.”
Daniel stepped away.
“Apparently.”
Leah stared at his cheek.
“She really hit you?”
“Lily already handled discipline.”
“What?”
“She made Claire apologize.”
Leah laughed through tears.
“That sounds right.”
They did not go home immediately.
Daniel had to speak with investigators.
Lily went with Leah.
Before leaving, Lily took Benny from her overnight bag and handed him to Daniel.
“Hold him.”
“Why?”
“So you don’t get scared.”
Daniel stared at the bear.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t lose him.”
“I won’t.”
The state investigator’s office occupied the fourth floor of a building that smelled faintly of old carpet and burnt coffee.
Daniel spent three hours answering questions.
When had he last seen Claire before the crash?
Had they been having marital problems?
Did she have access to joint accounts?
Did Daniel receive insurance benefits?
Did he know Anna Reed?
Had Claire ever mentioned Jenna Morales?
Ross Merrick?
Financial irregularities?
Threats?
Had Daniel assisted Claire in disappearing?
That question made him laugh.
The investigator, a woman named Harris with reading glasses hanging from a cord, did not laugh with him.
“I buried her.”
“I understand.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
“I’m asking because I have to establish whether anyone in the family knew she survived.”
Daniel leaned back.
The chair squeaked.
“I did not know.”
Harris studied him.
“I believe you’re being candid.”
“That doesn’t sound like believing me.”
“It means exactly what I said.”
Daniel almost liked her.
She slid a photograph across the table.
Claire’s SUV after the crash.
Daniel had seen versions of it before.
This one was taken from the passenger side.
The vehicle was barely recognizable.
He looked away.
Harris said, “The original identification appears to have relied on circumstantial property evidence and a dental comparison.”
“Claire says the dental record was wrong.”
“We’re reviewing that.”
“Can Jenna’s family find out today?”
“They will be contacted through investigators who handle missing-person cases.”
“Her mother waited four years.”
“I know.”
Daniel almost told Harris not to say it.
Instead he looked down.
“When will they know?”
“When we can responsibly tell them something.”
It frustrated him.
It also sounded more trustworthy than instant certainty.
“Is Claire going to jail?”
Harris removed her glasses.
“That’s not a question I can answer right now.”
“She used a false identity.”
“Yes.”
“She let herself be declared dead.”
“We’re investigating what actions she personally took and when.”
“She knew the body was Jenna’s.”
“That matters.”
Daniel rubbed Benny’s ear between his fingers.
Harris noticed the bear but did not ask.
“What happens to Claire’s death certificate?”
“Other agencies and courts will deal with her legal status. It won’t be fixed in an afternoon.”
“Her insurance company called me.”
“I would speak to an attorney before you speak to them.”
“Great.”
“I mean that sincerely.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I used that money.”
“I assumed you probably did.”
“I didn’t steal it.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“I can’t pay it back.”
Harris waited.
Daniel hated that he had become defensive with someone who had not accused him.
He rubbed his face.
“Sorry.”
“You’ve had an unusual twelve hours.”
“That’s one word.”
Harris put her glasses back on.
“Mr. Carter, I’m going to tell you one thing that may help.”
Daniel waited.
“Nothing about this will become simple because Claire Carter is alive.”
He looked at the burned SUV photograph.
“That actually helps.”
Claire spent nine days in custody before she was released under conditions Daniel did not completely understand because her attorney advised her not to discuss the case with him.
That boundary irritated him.
It was also sensible.
She stayed in a small hotel at first, then with a woman from a church organization that helped people reenter ordinary life after incarceration or homelessness. Claire technically fit neither category, but ordinary life seemed to require reentry anyway.
Daniel did not let her see Lily during the first week.
Claire asked once.
He said no.
She did not argue.
Lily asked about her every day.
Not constantly.
Children could think about the impossible and still complain about broccoli ten minutes later.
“Does Mommy have a phone?”
“Yes.”
“Can I call her?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because adults are figuring out some complicated things.”
“That sounds fake.”
“It does.”
“Is she in trouble?”
“Yes.”
“What did she do?”
Daniel looked at the six-year-old face across the dinner table.
“She left when she should have come home.”
Lily poked rice with her fork.
“Why?”
“She was scared.”
“Of you?”
“No.”
Lily nodded.
“Okay.”
The speed of her acceptance hurt him.
He had never hit Claire.
Never threatened her.
They had argued. He had slammed doors twice that he remembered and probably more than twice that he did not. He had once told her during a fight that she made every problem more complicated by hiding it until it became a disaster.
That sentence returned now with unpleasant precision.
Lily asked, “Can grown-ups get lost for four years?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a long time.”
“Yes.”
She ate a piece of chicken.
Then she said, “I missed her.”
Daniel put down his fork.
Lily frowned.
“Why are you making that face?”
“What face?”
“The sad one.”
He looked at his plate.
“I missed her too.”
The identification of Jenna Morales took three weeks.
DNA confirmed it.
Daniel learned through Investigator Harris before the news became public.
He sat at his desk at work with the office door closed and Benny beside his keyboard because Lily had forgotten him in Daniel’s car that morning.
He looked at the bear while Harris told him.
The remains buried under Claire Carter’s name belonged to Jenna Elena Morales, twenty-nine.
Jenna’s mother and brother had been notified.
Daniel asked whether he could contact them.
Harris said he should wait.
May you like
“How long?”
“Until they tell us they’re ready.”
