Chapter 9
That, more than anything, confirmed what I had suspected. There was no birthday cake. No gifts. No casual celebration. His birthday was not for another month.
It had been a pretext.
Marcus stared at his father. “Dad?”
Arthur rubbed one trembling hand over his mouth. “I didn’t know about the plate.”
It was the wrong answer.
Marcus stepped back as if struck by it.
“You didn’t know about the plate,” he repeated.
Arthur said nothing.
The female officer turned toward Jackson. “Sir, I need you to step outside with my partner.”
Jackson’s face tightened. “I’m not leaving my own parents’ house.”
“You’re not being asked,” she said.
For a moment, I thought he would refuse.
Then he looked at Genesis.
She gave the smallest shake of her head.
Careful, it said.
He went.
The room seemed to exhale after he passed through the front doors.
I had expected to feel triumph when that moment came. Some clean, dramatic surge of victory. Instead I felt hollow and cold. The paramedic touched my shoulder and told me to breathe slowly. I realized I had been holding my breath.
Marcus crouched near me, not too close.
“Elaine,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
I looked at him.
His eyes were wet.
“I should have said something sooner,” he continued. “I saw things. I told myself it wasn’t my marriage. I told myself you were private, and Jackson was under pressure, and Mom would make everything worse if I interfered.”
He swallowed.
“All excuses,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
A month ago, I might have comforted him. I might have told him it was okay because I had spent years taking other people’s guilt and polishing it into something easier for them to carry.
But tonight I could not.
“Thank you for saying something now,” I said.
May you like
He nodded once, accepting that it was all I had to give.
Across the foyer, Genesis was speaking quietly to the female officer, who had stayed inside to take initial statements. Her voice had regained some of its smoothness.
