Chapter 6: What She Said in the Laundry Room
Marsh stepped outside to make calls.
Through the diner window I watched him pace the sidewalk, phone pressed to his ear, one hand moving.
I sat across from Daniel.
Between us, Emma had fallen asleep against my arm, her crayon still loose in her hand.
Lily had finished her sandwich and was now carefully arranging sugar packets into a small house.
"The sentence," I said quietly.
"The one the audio caught in the laundry room.
I never told you what it was."
Daniel looked at me.
"Vanessa closed Emma in there and said: *This is what happens to little girls whose daddies don't listen.*" I kept my voice even.
"Emma was four years old."
Daniel's hand went flat on the table.
"She was sending me a message," I said.
"Through my daughter."
"What did she want you to do?"
"I don't know yet." I looked down at Emma's sleeping face.
"But she planned this for over a year.
She got close to you first.
Then she found me.
She put a camera in Emma's room before she'd even introduced herself to me.
That's not anger.
That's not obsession." I stopped.
"That's something else."
Marsh came back in.
He pulled his chair close and lowered his voice.
"We picked her up twenty minutes ago.
She was on the highway heading north.
She didn't resist." He paused.
"She asked for a lawyer immediately.
Then she said one thing before she stopped talking."
"What?" I said.
Marsh looked at me steadily.
"She said: *Ask Nathan what happened to his wife.*"
The sugar-packet house Lily was building collapsed.
She made a small sound of frustration and started over.
I heard myself breathing.
"My wife d*ed in a car accident," I said.
"Emma was eighteen months old.
A truck ran a red light."
"I know," Marsh said.
"I pulled the report this morning.
Standard accident report, no irregularities." He held my gaze.
"But Vanessa said it like she expected it to mean something to you."
"It doesn't," I said.
"I don't know what she's implying."
"Maybe nothing," Marsh said.
"Maybe she's trying to destabilize you before questioning.
It's a common tactic." He leaned back.
"But I want to ask you directly.
Was there anything about the accident that ever felt wrong to you?"
I thought about the night.
The call.
The hospital.
The two years after that I barely remembered.
"No," I said.
Marsh nodded slowly.
"Okay." He stood.
"I need you both to come in and give formal statements.
Tonight if possible."
Daniel was already getting his jacket.
Lily climbed down from the booth and took his hand without being asked.
I lifted Emma gently.
She stirred but didn't wake.
On the way out, my phone buzzed.
A notification from my home security app.
Motion detected at the front door.
I opened it.
The camera showed a woman standing on my porch.
Not Vanessa.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Holding a manila envelope.
She looked directly into the camera lens as if she knew exactly where it was.
Then she held up the envelope.
Written on the front in black marker: *FOR NATHAN.
May you like
ABOUT CLAIRE.*
Claire was my wife's name.
