Chapter 6 - Sit With Them
I stayed in the interview room after Reyes closed the file.
"How much did my word matter?" I asked.
She leaned back.
"At the time? A lot. You told us you spoke to Sebastian while he was at the Maspeth yard. Three employees said they saw him. His phone showed activity there. We had no weapon, no plate, no usable face on camera, and no witness who could identify him."
"The girls could have."
"Maybe."
"You tried."
"Twice."
I remembered the child advocacy center. I remembered Olivia clinging to Isabelle's scarf and refusing to enter the interview room. I remembered Sophie urinating through her dress in the hallway after a detective said the word Mommy.
I had ended it.
Not Reyes.
Me.
I had picked Sophie up and told everyone they were done asking my children questions.
At the time, it had felt protective.
Now I could not tell where protection ended and control began.
"What happens tomorrow?" I asked.
"Nothing happens unless the children are ready. A forensic interviewer can meet them. Grace can explain the setting. You cannot be in the room. Sebastian cannot be in the building."
"Fine."
"And you do not discuss the parking lot with them tonight."
"Fine."
Reyes narrowed her eyes.
"You keep saying that like the word hurts."
"It does."
"Good. Maybe you'll remember it."
I left headquarters at one thirty.
My phone contained fourteen missed calls. Eleven were business. Two were from Sebastian. One was from Grace.
I called Grace first.
"Everything okay?"
"Physically, yes."
"What does that mean?"
"Sebastian tried to bring Nora a stuffed rabbit. She hid under a desk."
My hand tightened on the steering wheel.
"Where is he now?"
"West wing. Mrs. Donnelly told him the girls were resting."
"Keep them away from him."
"I am."
"I'm coming home."
"Dominic."
I waited.
"Don't come home looking like you're about to kill someone."
I almost asked what that looked like.
Then I saw my reflection in the rearview mirror.
"I'll work on it."
When I got home, I did not go to Sebastian.
That decision took more effort than any confrontation I had ever won.
I went to the art room.
Olivia was drawing a row of houses. Sophie was arranging crayons by length instead of color. Nora sat under the table with the stuffed rabbit Sebastian had tried to give her.
I stopped in the doorway.
"Can I come in?"
Three faces turned toward me.
Nobody answered.
Grace, sitting on the floor with a basket of laundry, shrugged.
"Seems like a yes."
I sat against the wall.
Not at the table.
Not beside them.
I said nothing.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
My phone vibrated in my pocket.
I ignored it.
At twelve minutes, Olivia looked up.
At fifteen, Sophie pushed a broken green crayon toward me.
I picked it up.
"Needs tape?"
She nodded.
I found tape in a drawer and wrapped the paper sleeve around the broken middle. It was ugly work. The tape folded over itself.
Sophie took it anyway.
"Thanks," she whispered.
My throat tightened so suddenly I could not answer.
Grace did not look at me.
That kindness nearly undid me.
At dinner we ate grilled cheese in the art room because none of the girls wanted to go downstairs.
Mrs. Donnelly brought tomato soup and pretended the arrangement was perfectly normal.
Sebastian did not appear.
After the girls fell asleep, I found him in the billiard room with a glass of bourbon and a baseball game on mute.
He did not turn when I entered.
"How'd the police station go?"
"Productive."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning I learned my memory isn't as reliable as I thought."
He took a drink.
"Whose is?"
"I told police you were in Queens because you told me you were in Queens."
His shoulders went still.
"And?"
"And I remembered speaking to you as proof."
"You did speak to me."
"On the phone."
He turned now.
"Dom, if this is going to be one of those conversations where every ordinary thing becomes evidence—"
"Did you know Isabelle was leaving me?"
He stopped.
There was the half second again.
Then he looked down at his glass.
"Yes."
No denial.
No excuse.
Just yes.
"When?"
"The day before."
"You argued with her."
"We talked."
"She called it an argument."
His eyes lifted.
"Claire."
"She saved the voicemail."
Sebastian gave a bitter smile.
"Of course she did. Claire always thought your marriage was a hostage situation."
"What did you say to Isabelle?"
"That she should tell you before disappearing with your children."
"They were her children too."
"I know that."
"Do you?"
He put down the glass.
"You were supposed to fly to Boston. She was going to be gone when you came back. Do you understand what that would have done to you?"
"Apparently you did."
"I was trying to stop you from waking up in an empty house."
I stared at him.
"You think that was your job?"
"Somebody had to think about you."
The same sentence in a different shape.
Somebody had to be clearheaded.
Somebody had to think about me.
"Did you follow her to Garden City?"
"No."
"Did you see her that morning?"
"No."
"Did you drive a blue car?"
He laughed without humor.
"No."
"Did you tell my daughters not to speak?"
His face changed.
I knew before he answered that I had finally touched something real.
"What?"
"They are afraid of you."
"They're afraid of everything."
"Not like this."
He stood.
"You're hearing whatever you want now."
"Then help me stop."
"How?"
"Leave the house tonight. Stay at the Garden City Hotel until Reyes clears you."
His mouth opened.
Then closed.
"You're throwing me out?"
"I'm separating you from three children who are frightened of you."
"I am their uncle."
"Then act like one."
His hand closed around the back of the chair.
"After everything I did for you."
I heard the injury in his voice, and for a dangerous second I almost softened.
That was our oldest pattern.
Sebastian did something I disliked. I pushed. He reminded me how loyal he had been. I moved the line.
"Tonight," I said.
He looked at me for a long time.
"You don't know what you're doing."
"That's becoming clear."
He left the billiard room.
Twenty minutes later I heard a suitcase rolling across the marble foyer.
Upstairs, Olivia woke at the sound.
She ran into the hall and watched from the landing as Sebastian crossed toward the front door.
He looked up at her.
"Liv."
She grabbed the banister.
He took one step toward the stairs.
I moved between them.
Olivia's voice came from above me.
May you like
"He told Mommy Daddy would make her sorry."
Sebastian closed his eyes.
