Chapter 8: What Daniel Finally Admitted
Detective Marsh was in the kitchen with Daniel for forty-seven minutes.
I know because I watched the clock on the wall above the television.
I watched it the way you watch something when you need your mind to be somewhere simple and countable.
Lily finished her drawing and started a second one.
This time she drew two figures inside the house — both with faces.
One tall, one small.
Both smiling.
"Is that us?" I asked.
"Yes." She pointed to the taller figure.
"You're taller than me."
"A little bit."
"Your hair is longer."
"You gave me good hair."
She almost smiled.
Almost.
At the forty-seven-minute mark, Detective Marsh came back into the living room.
She sat down across from me again.
"Your husband has agreed to give a voluntary statement," she said.
"He's asked for his attorney to be present before he says anything further.
That's his right and we'll honor it."
"What did he tell you before the attorney?"
She paused.
"I can share some of what he said, because it directly affects Lily's safety and your situation." She glanced at Lily, then back at me, and lowered her voice.
"He confirmed that he knew Lily had been placed in Marcus's home.
He says he visited the house twice during that period.
He says he did not witness any direct harm to Lily."
"But?"
"He admits he received a message from Marcus approximately fourteen months ago asking him to store the box.
He says Marcus told him it was financial records from a business dispute.
He says he didn't look inside."
"Do you believe that?"
She didn't answer that directly.
"He also admits that he recognized Lily when the adoption was finalized.
He knew who she was before she came to live here."
The room went very quiet inside my head.
"He knew," I said.
"He says he thought it would be good for her.
That a stable home was what she needed and that he could provide that."
"He didn't think I deserved to know."
"He says he was afraid of how you'd react."
I looked at the kitchen doorway.
"Where is he now?"
"Still at the table.
He's not going anywhere." She leaned forward slightly.
"Mrs.
Hale.
The emails in that box — the ones between Daniel and Marcus about a girl asking questions.
We're going to need to trace those.
If they show what they appear to show, Daniel's involvement goes beyond storing a box."
"What does it appear to show?"
"That he was aware a child in that home was trying to communicate distress to an outside party.
And that his response was to alert Marcus rather than report it."
Lily's crayon stopped moving.
She hadn't turned around.
But her hand had stopped.
She had heard.
I moved to sit beside her.
"Keep drawing, sweetheart."
She picked up the crayon again.
But her hand wasn't steady anymore.
"He told Marcus," she said.
Very quiet.
"When I talked to Donna through the fence.
He saw me.
He told Marcus."
I couldn't speak for a moment.
"Is that what happened?" I finally said.
She nodded.
One small nod.
"And then Marcus locked the door," she said.
Detective Marsh stood up.
She walked to the kitchen doorway.
"Mr.
Hale," she said.
"I need you to come with me to the station.
You can call your attorney from there."
Daniel appeared in the doorway.
He looked at me.
Then he looked at Lily.
Lily did not look up from her drawing.
"I thought I was helping," he said.
To me.
To the room.
To no one.
I didn't answer him.
He put on his jacket.
He walked to the front door.
Detective Marsh followed.
The door closed.
Lily drew a fence around the house in her picture.
Then she drew a figure on the outside of the fence.
Small.
With careful hair.
"That's Donna," she said.
"I put her outside because she's safe now."
May you like
I put my hand over hers.
She didn't pull away.
