Chapter 3: The Lie He Told Quietly
Vic didn't come any further than the rug just inside the double doors. He left them closed behind him and that was the first thing that felt wrong. He always left them open when he came in from the driveway, like he owned the place a little. This time he stood with his hands loose at his sides and his weight on his heels, as if he was ready to step back out.
Lily had gone completely still against me. She wasn't crying anymore. She had her face pressed into the side of my neck and her arms locked around my collar, and I could feel her breath coming fast and shallow against my skin. I held her with one hand on her back, my left hand with the watch flat between her shoulder blades, and kept my other hand on the arm of the chair near the desk so I wouldn't look like I was bracing for anything.
I made my voice even. "You good out there? Driveway's holding up?"
Vic nodded toward the glass. "All good, boss. Rained last night so I parked up higher. Didn't want to rut the gravel."
He didn't look at Lily. Not once. That was the second thing.
I shifted Lily a little higher on my hip so I could see her face without letting go. Her eyes were fixed on Vic over my shoulder. "Vic, do you know this little girl?" I asked it plain, like I was asking if he knew a contractor. "She showed up at the side gate a few minutes ago. Says she's looking for her mom."
It was quiet enough I could hear the clock ticking on the paneling behind the desk. Vic's eyes flicked to me, then down to the decanter on the wood desk, then to the window, anywhere but to Lily.
"Never seen her before," he said. He gave a short shake of his head and a little shrug, hands coming up just enough to show his palms. "Maybe she wandered up from the church road. Kids get confused."
His voice was steady. Too steady. He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes and he never let it hold.
Lily's fingers tightened in my shirt. I felt her inhale like she was going to speak and then stop herself. Vic's gaze cut for half a second past me, through the diamond-pattern glass to the black SUV parked on the driveway. It was quick, automatic, like checking that a door was locked. Then he looked back at the paneling.
I knew that glance. I'd seen him do it a hundred times when he was worried about equipment left in the truck. Only now there was nothing in the truck he should have been worried about.
"You sure?" I said. I kept it light. "Blonde hair, white dress. Hard to miss."
"I'm sure, boss," Vic said. He cleared his throat. "Want me to walk the property line, see if anyone's looking for her? Call the sheriff's office for a missing kid report?"
He offered to call. That was meant to make him sound helpful. But he still wouldn't look at her. A man who'd never seen a lost three-year-old before would look at her. He'd crouch down, he'd soften his voice, he'd do the thing people do. Vic kept his eyes trained just over my shoulder, fixed on the stone trim around the window.
Lily turned her face into my collar so her mouth was against the edge of my shirt. Her whisper was so small I felt it more than heard it, her breath warm on my neck.
"He took my mommy," she whispered again.
The same words, same exact shape as before, but quieter now, like she was telling me a secret she didn't want him to hear. Her whole body trembled once and then went rigid again.
I didn't react where Vic could see it. I rubbed a slow circle on her back with my tattooed hand and let my watch catch the lamp light. I nodded once against her hair so she knew I'd heard her.
Vic was watching that glance at the SUV again. I needed to give him nothing to latch onto while she was right here between us. If I called him a liar with Lily in my arms, I had no idea what he'd do next, and I wasn't going to find out with her that close to the doors.
"Nah, hold off on the call for a minute," I said. "She's scared to death. Let's get her some water first, let her calm down. You can wait here a sec while I get her settled?"
Vic blinked. He looked relieved that I wasn't pushing. "Yeah. Yeah, of course. I'll post up by the doors."
He took half a step back toward the glass and slid his hands into his pockets. He finally let his eyes drop for an instant to Lily's white tights, then snapped them away like it burned.
And I knew. I knew the way you know when someone's left a dent in your car and tells you they just noticed it. He knew her. He knew her well enough that he couldn't look at her.
I turned slightly so my shoulder was between Vic and Lily, and I held her tighter.
May you like
"Okay, sweetheart," I murmured to Lily, loud enough for Vic to hear. "We're gonna get you some water. You're safe in here."
I wasn't going to confront him with her still clinging to my neck. Not in this study. Not with the doors closed and the SUV sitting out there in the driveway right where he could get to it.
