She thrusts her hand out, her face hard. Silence speaking.Do not come.
Bearing the weight of my inability to make any of this better for her, I proceed to my study and locate her device still in my bag.
As I walk back into the room, Clint is handing over the phone he confiscated from Erika. “The code is 4662. It’ll need to be charged.”
I hand the iPhone over to the officer, give him the code, and then clamp my jaws together. If I speak of work, the officers will start digging around. We’ll lose the advantage of me knowing the data is real. Although at this point that’s all there is. I have no theory. “Do you have other ideas on who could have defaced our property?” I ask.
“We do.”
40
THE OFFICERS DECLINE TO SHARE THEIR THEORIESand I decline to hint at the craziness at work, because I really don’t see anyone at my job doing something as bizarre and frankly sloppy as spray-painting my garage and car.
Clint and I return from the foyer after ushering the officers out.
Erika’s muffled footfalls skid down the stairs.
“I knew MJ couldn’t have been involved.” Her voice is slightly husky as she drops her duffel bag at the bottom of the steps. Confident nonchalance exudes from her but is only a thin veneer over something else. Fear?
I want to wrap her in my arms, but Clint steps in front of me and shifts her old gymnastics bag to the side of the stairs and out of the way. “Sounds that way. Also seems like the police have another theory. Any thoughts on that?”
“I don’t know. If you’d let me look at my phone before you gave it to the police, maybe I could have put together a theory.” Her eyesshine out from a face that is freshly scrubbed and devoid of her usual makeup.
“Which phone? Which phone would have helped you determine who defaced our property?” Clint’s eyes flare in similar fashion to our daughter’s.
Instead of assuming my new normal posture of calming their storms, I lean toward Erika and bluff. “Come on now, you’ve been messaging on your computer this whole time. You don’t need your phone.”
Erika flinches.
I straighten before my shoulders can sag. She is hiding something. I take a tiny step forward, crowding her. “Tell us. Is it about this substitute or someone he’s gotten involved? What’s going on, Erika?”
She shifts her gaze between us. “I have been able to message on my computer.”
Clint groans.
Our wily daughter continues. “What did you expect? I’ve had clients to reschedule, but none of my friends or anyone they know had any idea about the spray-painting. I mean, until the local news covered it.”
“And this Danny Doward?” I press again.
“I have no idea. I’ve never contacted him online and Snapchat is blocked on my computer. Even if it wasn’t, I agree with that officer, I don’t think it was him. He was just a bully, and I was so stressed out.” Erika sucks in her top lip and then glances up the stairs, like there’s somewhere else she needs to be.
“Stressed about MJ?” I ask softly.
Erika hesitates and then nods.
Clint sighs heavily, likely thinking the same thing I am: she’s still hiding something. Might not have anything to do with the garage or car, but we’re done with the lying. “Erika, we need you to thinklong and hard about what you have and have not told us. It’s not a matter of pride or preference; it’s the safety of our family.” He reaches for my hand and grasps it firmly in his. “Fortunately we’ve got a bit of time to get into all this. I mean, we’re going to a cabin, and you don’t have a phone.” He scowls. “Or phones. Fifteen minutes, and we’re leaving.”
41
I RUSH INTO MY OFFICEto pack my computer and the files I need. My other laptop is already in my bag. Before I slide my work one in next to it, I boot it up to check my inbox. Maybe Phil has sent the information for the funds. Betsey will try and find me today, and I need to understand why she set all of this in motion. Of course, I’ve eliminated her threat, so this will be on my terms.
There’s an email from Phil’s assistant. I open it and notice two attachments.
From: Nonie Jenkins ([email protected])
To: Meredith Hansel (Meredith.Hansel@?garmanstraub.com)
Hi Meredith,
