Chapter 3 - What Lily Heard
Mark Ellis had been my friend since college.
He was also our company’s chief financial officer.
Thirty minutes earlier, he had stood beside the bar and joked that marriage might finally make me leave work before seven.
Now his name was glowing on a phone Hannah had hidden beneath the floor.
I looked toward the ballroom.
“Where’s Mark?”
Nobody answered.
Owen went to the front doors.
A woman in a green dress said she’d seen Mark leave through the kitchen.
The police officer took one look at Hannah and called for another unit.
Vanessa tried to follow when the paramedics brought in a stretcher.
The officer stopped her.
“I need you to stay here.”
“She’s my friend.”
Hannah turned her face away.
At the hospital, a nurse led Lily and me to a small waiting room.
Owen arrived carrying Lily’s coat and one of her shoes.
I hadn’t noticed she’d lost it.
“Her foot got caught under a chair,” he said.
Lily sat with the coat folded in her lap.
I crouched in front of her.
“Tell me what happened tonight.”
She watched the hallway.
“Is Vanessa coming?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure she isn’t coming into this room.”
Lily nodded.
Then she looked at the floor.
“I heard the song.”
“What song?”
“The one Mommy used to sing when I couldn’t sleep.”
Hannah had made it up.
Something about a little moon who lost its way home.
I felt my throat close.
“When did you hear it?”
“Last night.”
I had been at a client dinner.
Vanessa had told me Lily went to bed early.
“I went downstairs for water,” Lily said. “I heard it behind the door. Really quiet.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried this morning.”
I remembered.
She had followed me into the kitchen while I was checking messages.
Daddy, there’s something—
Vanessa had interrupted.
Lily’s nervous about the party.
I had kissed my daughter’s head and told her we’d talk later.
There it was.
The moment I had chosen convenience.
Lily rubbed her wrist again.
“Vanessa said if I kept saying Mommy was here, you’d send me somewhere to get fixed.”
I closed my eyes.
Owen turned toward the wall.
“She said Mommy didn’t want me,” Lily whispered. “But Mommy would never stop singing our song.”
A detective entered.
Her badge read RUIZ.
She pulled up a chair instead of standing over us.
“Daniel, your wife is asking for you.”
I rose.
Ruiz touched my sleeve.
“There’s something you should know first.”
“What?”
“Vanessa says you arranged the room.”
Lily’s head snapped up.
May you like
Ruiz held my gaze.
“And she’s given us messages that appear to support that.”
