Chapter 5
I let Denise into the kitchen. Michael stayed.
She looked relieved to see him and ashamed at the same time.
“I should have checked,” she said.
“Checked what?” I asked.
Denise opened the folder. She and Sarah ran a small event planning company. Two months earlier, Sarah had told Denise she was arranging a family investment to cover a large overdue payment. She showed her documents that appeared to make her an authorized contact for Lily’s trust.
“The company never received trust money,” Denise said quickly. “I searched every deposit. But Sarah used those papers to persuade me we could promise a vendor payment.”
“So she was expecting to get access,” Michael said.
“I think so.”
Denise slid an invoice across the table.
The company owed a venue contractor a sum Sarah could not cover from its accounts. Denise had found the debt that morning. Sarah had been moving business expenses onto personal cards and hiding the statements.
I understood why she wanted Lily’s money. That understanding made me feel sick.
“Will you speak to the detective?” I asked.
“Yes. I brought copies. The originals are locked at our office.”
Michael walked Denise to her car while I checked on Lily. She was asleep with one hand tucked under her cheek.
I stood in the doorway and thought of Sarah telling her she might lose this house.
The next morning, Denise gave her statement. Ms. Patel gave the detective the original trust request. The school provided its visitor log and camera footage. The investigation was moving, but Sarah had disappeared again.
Michael filed a report about the money missing from his account. He also contacted an attorney about separating their finances.
He came to dinner on Friday.
Lily showed him how her new toy horse could fit inside the dollhouse elevator. He listened with such serious attention that she laughed at him.
“Uncle Mike, horses don’t use elevators.”
“This one clearly does.”
I watched them from the stove.
After dinner, Michael helped me clear the table. He paused when Lily went upstairs to put on her pajamas.
“I didn’t believe you when you first called,” he said.
“You hadn’t heard the recording.”
“I didn’t ask to hear it. I believed Sarah’s version because it was easier.”
I dried a plate.
“You believe Lily now.”
“Yes.”
“That matters to her.”
He looked down the hall.
“I’d like to tell her I’m sorry properly.”
“Keep it simple,” I said. “She’s seven.”
He waited until Lily returned, then crouched so they were eye to eye.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come to your party when it first started,” he said. “I didn’t know about it. I’m also sorry I didn’t notice you felt bad around Aunt Sarah.”
Lily twisted the sleeve of her pajamas.
“Are you mad at me because Aunt Sarah’s in trouble?”
“No. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
She considered that.
“Can we make the horse a stable next time?”
“I’d like that.”
When Michael left, Lily seemed lighter. She asked if Ava could come over the next day. I said yes.
At noon on Saturday, Ava’s mother dropped her off. The girls ran into the backyard with a box of sidewalk chalk.
I went inside to get lemonade.
My phone buzzed.
An unknown number had sent me a photograph of the girls from the far side of the street.
Under it was a message.
Tell Michael to call me.
I went straight back outside. Lily and Ava were drawing flowers on the patio, unaware.
I brought them indoors, locked the door, and called the police. Then I called Ava’s mother and explained enough that she came to pick her up.
Lily stood beside the window.
“Did Aunt Sarah do something?”
“I don’t know who sent the picture,” I said. “The police are checking.”
She looked at the chalk on her fingers.
“I thought Ava could stay.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
For the next hour, I was furious that I couldn’t give her one ordinary afternoon.
The detective called after seeing the message. She asked me to send the original image and not to reply. A patrol officer drove by the house. They found no one on our street.
Michael arrived as soon as I told him.
“This is because of me,” he said.
“This is because someone took a picture of two children.”
He called Sarah while the detective listened on speaker. The call went to voicemail.
“Sarah,” he said, “I’ll talk to you with the detective present. Leave Lily alone.”
Ten minutes later, she called back.
I heard her breathing before she spoke.
May you like
“I was across town all morning,” she said.
Nobody had told her when the picture was taken.
