Chương 4
An obstetrician named Dr. Patel introducing herself while already reading a monitor.
No one cared about the Bellacourt name.
Claire was grateful enough to cry over that if she had been the sort of person who cried easily.
She wasn’t.
Instead she asked, “What are the odds he comes now?”
Dr. Patel looked at her.
“Right now, I’m more interested in whether labor keeps progressing.”
“Is that a doctor answer?”
“Yes.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning thirty-four-week babies generally do very well, but every additional day inside can help. We’ll monitor you. We may be able to slow things down. We may not.”
Claire nodded.
“Steroids?”
“If we have time.”
“Magnesium?”
“Not necessarily at thirty-four weeks. We’ll make decisions based on what your body does.”
The restraint in the answer calmed her more than certainty would have.
Her regular phone vibrated again.
A nurse had placed it on the counter.
The screen lit.
EVAN.
Claire stared at it until it went dark.
Then VICTORIA.
Then CELESTE.
Then Evan again.
Dr. Patel followed her eyes.
“Do you want that phone somewhere else?”
“Yes.”
The nurse turned it facedown.
“Done.”
Claire closed her eyes.
For twenty minutes, labor slowed.
The contractions spread apart.
Medication helped.
The baby’s heartbeat stayed reassuring.
Jenna, before leaving, returned Claire’s purse.
“Your husband’s downstairs.”
Claire opened her eyes.
“Did he say husband or did someone else?”
Jenna paused.
“He said husband.”
“Okay.”
“You want him up?”
“No.”
Jenna nodded without curiosity.
“Congratulations on having one easy medical decision today.”
After she left, Claire lay in the dim room listening to the fetal monitor.
A soft knock came thirty minutes later.
Mara entered carrying two coffees.
She looked at the IV line.
“Can you have this?”
“I can have coffee. I cannot have yours if you destroyed it the way you usually do.”
“One sugar.”
“You use four.”
“Today I use one.”
Claire took the cup.
It was decaf.
She smelled it before drinking.
Mara sat in the chair near the window.
For a while neither spoke.
Rain had begun lightly against the glass.
Claire hadn’t known rain was forecast.
She also hadn’t known her son might be born while investigators boxed documents inside her husband’s family office.
There were limits to planning.
Finally Mara said, “They’re still at the vineyard.”
“Did Evan leave?”
“No.”
“Victoria?”
“No.”
“Celeste?”
“Wedding ended.”
Claire winced.
Mara saw it.
“You didn’t end it.”
“I made the call.”
“Your membranes made the first call.”
“That’s terrible.”
“I’ve had a difficult afternoon.”
Claire took a sip.
The decaf was bad.
She drank again anyway.
“What did they find?”
“I’m not discussing evidence with you.”
“Mara.”
“You’re conflicted out.”
“I’m aware.”
“You’re also medicated and in preterm labor.”
“Barely medicated.”
“Claire.”
Claire looked toward the monitor.
The baby’s heartbeat continued its steady run.
“What am I allowed to know?”
“That the warrants were executed.”
“Plural.”
Mara said nothing.
“Vineyard and what?”
Mara drank her coffee.
Claire gave a tired laugh.
“Fine.”
“We’re preserving devices. Counsel has arrived for Victoria and Evan.”
“Separate counsel?”
“Yes.”
That mattered.
Claire wished it didn’t.
“Who hired first?”
“I’m not answering that.”
“Then it was Evan.”
Mara leaned back.
“You are the reason investigators hate auditors.”
“No, investigators hate auditors because we make you document lunch expenses.”
“That too.”
The room quieted.
Mara looked older than she had at the wedding.
There were faint lines beneath her eyes Claire had never noticed.
“You scared me,” she said.
Claire turned.
Mara rarely gave emotional statements without an exit built into them.
“I scared myself.”
“You should.”
“Thank you.”
“You hide it when you’re scared.”
“I know.”
“You turn into a spreadsheet.”
Claire smiled despite herself.
“That is insulting to spreadsheets.”
Mara set down her cup.
“Evan asked for you.”
“No.”
“I told him medical decisions were yours.”
“What did he say?”
“That he needed to explain.”
Claire stared at the fetal monitor.
“Of course he does.”
“You don’t have to hear him.”
“I know.”
A contraction began.
Not terrible.
Claire breathed.
Mara stood and waited.
After it passed, Claire said, “He signed them.”
“Yes.”
“Knowing?”
Mara didn’t answer.
“I’m not asking for evidence. I’m asking whether the man I married knew.”
“That is the investigation.”
“You must have an opinion.”
“I have opinions about lots of things.”
“Mara.”
“You want me to make the marriage decision for you.”
Claire’s jaw tightened.
“That isn’t what I’m doing.”
“It is a little.”
Claire looked away.
Rain thickened against the hospital window.
A maintenance worker pushed a mop bucket past the doorway.
Someone laughed down the hall.
A newborn cried.
The sound went through Claire like electricity.
Mara waited.
Claire finally said, “I kept giving him ways not to know.”
“Yes.”
“You noticed.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because you would’ve defended him harder.”
Claire picked at the cardboard seam on the coffee sleeve.
The small honesty hurt more than accusation.
“Did you think he was guilty?”
“I thought he was capable of being guilty.”
“That’s different.”
“It’s an important difference.”
Claire nodded.
Her phone, still facedown, vibrated.
Mara did not look at it.
Claire did.
“Let him up.”
Mara’s expression did not change.
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
“That’s a better answer.”
Evan entered ten minutes later.
He had changed nothing except his jacket was gone.
His white shirt was wrinkled.
Tie removed.
He held his phone in one hand.
For a moment they only looked at each other.
Then his eyes moved to Claire’s stomach.
“How is he?”
The question arrived late enough that Claire hated herself for being relieved it had arrived at all.
“Stable.”
“And you?”
“Still pregnant.”
He nodded.
His shoulders lowered.
“I tried calling.”
“I know.”
“Mara wouldn’t—”
“Mara followed my instruction.”
He glanced toward the closed door.
“She’s outside?”
“I don’t know.”
“She is.”
Claire watched him.
“You’re afraid of her.”
He pulled the visitor chair closer but didn’t sit.
“I’m afraid of everything right now.”
“That’s more believable.”
May you like
He sat.
For several seconds he rubbed his thumb along the edge of his phone case.
