Chapter 6 - Emma Was Never Supposed To Be There
My niece had been inside Derek's house exactly twice. The first time was for Lily's fifth birthday. The second was the barbecue in July. I knew because June hated Derek and avoided him with the kind of dedication most people reserved for diets.
She had once told me she would rather spend a Saturday assembling furniture without instructions than make small talk with him. So why was Emma's name on the hidden-room wall? I called June from the stairwell outside the child advocacy center. She picked up on the first ring.
"Tell me Lily's okay."
"She's okay."
It was not completely true, but it was the only sentence I could give her without falling apart.
"I need to ask you something about Emma."
Silence.
"What about Emma?"
I heard a door close on her end.
"Has Emma ever been alone with Derek?"
"No."
Too fast.
"June."
"No. Why?"
"Think. Birthday parties, errands, anything. Did he ever drive her anywhere? Watch her while you went somewhere?"
"Rachel, what happened?"
"Answer me."
The words came out like an order.
June went quiet.
Then she said, "Once."
My hand tightened around the railing.
"When?"
"Last summer. Before the barbecue."
"You just said no."
"Because it was twenty minutes. I didn't think it counted."
"It counts."
"Okay, don't yell at me."
"I'm not yelling."
I was absolutely yelling.
A hospital employee pushed through the stairwell door, saw my face, and immediately backed out.
June took a breath.
"Mom had one of her migraines. Emma was with me. I needed to pick up her prescription. Derek and Serena were already at Mom's dropping off something for Lily. Derek said he'd take the girls to his place because his pool was open."
"Girls?"
"Lily and Emma."
"You let him take Emma?"
"You were still sending Lily there every other weekend. What was I supposed to think?"
That stopped me.
The shame came back, sharp enough to make me lean against the wall.
June heard the silence.
"That was cruel," she said quietly.
"It was true."
"I didn't mean it like that."
"What happened when Emma came back?"
"Nothing. She was wet from the pool. She complained Derek wouldn't let them have popsicles because they were being loud. That was it."
"Did she sit down?"
June did not answer.
"June."
"What kind of question is that?"
"Did she sit down?"
I heard her breathing.
Then a small, frightened sound.
"She ate dinner on the couch on her knees."
My eyes closed.
"Why?"
"She said her leg hurt from swimming."
"Did you check her?"
"Yes. There was a red mark on the back of her thigh. I thought she scraped it on the pool ladder."
"Do you have a photo?"
"I don't know. Maybe. I take pictures of everything."
"Find it. Don't send it to me. Send it to Detective Ortega. I'll text his number."
June's voice broke.
"Why?"
I looked through the narrow stairwell window at the wet parking lot four floors below.
"Because Emma's name is written on a wall in Derek's hidden room."
June made no sound at all. For three seconds I thought the call had dropped. Then she whispered, "What hidden room?" I told her only what I had to.
By the time I finished, she was crying silently.
"I'm going to ask her."
"No."
"She's my daughter."
"I know. Don't ask her."
"Rachel, if that man touched—"
"Don't ask her questions you already have answers in your head for. Let the child interviewer do it."
I heard myself repeating what Natalie had told me. It felt strange and awful to be the calm one.
"I can't just sit here."
"Yes, you can."
"You couldn't."
That one landed too.
"No," I said. "I couldn't. And I made mistakes because of it. So please learn faster than I did."
June cried harder.
I stayed on the phone until she could breathe normally. Then I sent Ortega's number and called Natalie. She was already in a courthouse conference room preparing for the emergency hearing.
"Do not tell me there's another surprise," she said.
"There's another surprise."
"I hate today."
I told her about Emma.
For once Natalie had no sarcastic response.
"We need June represented separately if Emma is interviewed," she said.
"Why separately?"
"Because this may become a multi-child investigation, and your interests are aligned emotionally but not necessarily legally."
"She's my sister."
"Exactly. Families do stupid things when they think being family means sharing one lawyer."
"Fine."
"Also, the emergency hearing is still happening."
I wanted to throw my phone down the stairs.
"How?"
"Because Bell is arguing criminal suspicion should not automatically decide custody."
"The hidden room?"
"They say Derek used it as a sensory room for children who became overstimulated."
I laughed so loudly it echoed.
"A sensory room with a floor drain?"
"They say the drain was preexisting from a utility sink."
"The timer?"
"Behavioral tool."
"The straps?"
"Garage equipment."
"The names on the wall?"
"A schedule for playdates."
"Next Saturday?"
"They haven't explained that one yet."
I pressed my forehead to the cool concrete wall.
"How does anyone say this with a straight face?"
"Practice."
At 2:30, I appeared by video from a small hospital conference room. Judge Harold Keene sat behind a dark wooden bench on my screen. He was not the judge from our divorce. That should have made me feel better.
It didn't.
Bell appeared beside Derek at counsel table.
Derek wore a gray suit.
He had shaved.
He looked rested.
I hated him for looking rested. Elaine sat one row behind him in pearls. She looked directly into the courtroom camera as if she knew exactly where I was on the other side.
Bell spoke first.
He called the hospital situation "deeply concerning." He said Derek welcomed a full investigation. He said Derek had voluntarily surrendered his phone. That was technically true because police got a warrant before he handed it over.
Then Bell played the thirty-eight-second video.
Lily answered no.
No, the chair didn't hurt.
No, Daddy didn't hurt her.
Mommy gets mad.
Judge Keene watched without expression.
Then Bell held up my three-month-old recording. The one where I told Lily that if her father did something bad, I could make sure she never had to go there again. My own voice filled the courtroom. I wanted to crawl out of my skin.
"Ms. Moore," the judge said when it ended, "did you make that statement?"
Natalie glanced at me from her separate video window.
We had rehearsed this.
No excuses.
No speeches.
"Yes, Your Honor."
"Do you understand how a child could interpret that?"
"I do now."
Bell rose.
"Your Honor, the child was given a clear incentive—"
Natalie cut in.
"The child also has surgically removed metal fragments currently in police evidence."
Bell turned.
"And no medical expert has yet connected those fragments to my client."
"His hidden room has the child's name on the wall."
"A room in which children played."
"Behind removable pegboard?"
The judge lifted his hand.
"Counsel."
Both stopped.
My phone buzzed on the table beside me.
A text from Ortega.
CALL ME NOW.
I couldn't.
The hearing was live.
Then another message came.
EMMA'S PHOTO MATCHES LILY'S INJURY PATTERN.
My vision narrowed.
Judge Keene was speaking.
"Until the criminal investigation provides more clarity, I am suspending Mr. Voss's parenting time."
My lungs opened for the first time all day.
Then he continued.
"However, because of concerns regarding possible suggestive questioning by Ms. Moore, Lily will remain hospitalized as medically necessary, and upon discharge, temporary placement will be with a mutually agreed third party pending a review in seven days."
I stopped breathing again.
"No," I said.
Natalie muted me.
I slapped the unmute button.
"Your Honor, she just had surgery."
"Ms. Moore—"
"She wakes up asking if her father is coming. You cannot send her to some stranger."
"I did not say stranger."
"Then who?"
Bell stood.
"Mr. Voss proposes his mother, Elaine Voss."
I actually laughed.
It was the wrong reaction.
Judge Keene's face hardened.
Natalie closed her eyes.
Elaine folded her hands in her lap.
"Absolutely not," I said.
The judge looked down at the papers.
"Ms. Voss has decades of experience in child and family services and no criminal history."
"Her handwriting may be on the wall."
That was not yet established.
I knew it as soon as the words came out. Bell's head snapped toward the camera.
"Your Honor, that is an outrageous unsupported accusation."
Natalie whispered my name like she wanted to strangle me through the screen.
Judge Keene called a recess.
My screen went dark.
I sat frozen.
Natalie immediately called my phone.
"What did I tell you about speculation?"
"I know."
"You just handed Bell a gift."
"I know."
"I need you to stop helping him."
That hurt.
Because she was right.
Before I could answer, Detective Ortega called again.
I switched lines.
"What happened?"
"We got the photo from June."
"And?"
"Emma had three parallel puncture marks on the back of her thigh. Healed now. Similar spacing to two of Lily's wounds."
I covered my mouth.
"Can that help stop Elaine?"
"Maybe. But there's something else."
"What?"
"We identified Tess."
I stood.
"Who is she?"
"Seven-year-old daughter of a woman named Melissa Trent."
"Do I know her?"
"No."
"How does Derek know her?"
"He doesn't."
The words made no sense.
"Then why is her name on his wall?"
Ortega took a breath.
"Because Derek isn't the only adult using that room."
---
(To be continued)
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