Chapter 7: The Black SUV With No Alibi
I didn't let go of her. Not once. Lily's arms were locked around my neck and her legs around my waist, her white tights pressed against my black shirt. She was light but she was holding on like she'd fall if she loosened her grip. I could feel her breath against my collarbone, quick and shallow.
Vic was still out there by the black SUV, one hand on the roof, waiting. The arched double doors were open now, just a few inches, letting in the cold air from the driveway. Through the diamond-pattern glass I could see his face clearly. Patient. Polite. The same face I'd trusted to drive my car and watch my house for three years.
I shifted Lily higher on my hip and walked toward the doors. My gold watch caught the light as I moved. The floorboards creaked under my shoes. Lily buried her face in my shoulder when we got closer to the glass.
"You hear that?" I said, loud enough for Vic to hear through the gap. I kept my voice even, like it was nothing. "Been hearing a rattle every time you pull in. Rear passenger side."
Vic's hand came off the roof. He tilted his head.
"Rattle, boss?" he said.
"Yeah," I said. I stopped just inside the threshold with Lily on my hip. I didn't step out onto the stone. I stayed in the doorway where I could see her and the SUV at the same time. "Probably nothing. Loose trim or something in the back. Pop it open so I can check before you head out again."
It was the kind of thing I would have asked on any other day. Boss to driver. It gave him a reason to open the door without me accusing him of anything. Vic nodded right away, too quickly.
"Sure thing," he said. He hit the fob. The SUV chirped.
Lily lifted her head just enough to look. Her fingers dug into my shirt.
Vic pulled the rear passenger door open wide. The interior light came on. And there it was.
On the black leather back seat, folded but not neatly, was a small pink blanket with white stars on it. The kind that had been washed a hundred times. It was half-tucked under a dark blue apron, the canvas kind with ties, with a name tag stitched on the pocket. I couldn't read the name from where I stood, but I didn't need to. Elena wore that apron at the diner on Route 17. She'd worn it the day she brought Lily to my foundation office to ask about the scholarship program. I'd seen that apron when she wiped her hands on it.
My chest tightened. I didn't look at Lily. I didn't want Vic to see my eyes go to it and stay there.
I forced a breath and made myself look at the door hinge instead, like I was actually checking for a rattle.
"You've got a lot of stuff back there," I said.
Vic leaned against the open door, easy. He'd rehearsed this.
"Oh yeah," he said. "Picked up those donation bags for the charity gala. You know Mrs. Henderson over at the church asked me to grab them. Blankets and kids' clothes. I was going to drop them at the hall after I checked in with you."
He said it smooth, with a little shrug. Like it was normal to have a child's blanket and a woman's work apron balled up on the back seat of my SUV.
Lily made a small sound against my neck. Not words. Just air.
I held her tighter. My tattooed hand spread flat on her back, my watch pressing against her white dress.
"That pink one," I said, nodding toward the blanket without pointing. "That from Henderson too?"
"Yeah," Vic said. "All of it. People donate whatever they got. I didn't sort through it. Just tossed it in the back."
He smiled when he said it. The same smile he gave me when he said Afternoon, boss.
The blanket wasn't with a bag. There was no bag. There was just the blanket and the apron, lying together like they'd been put there in a hurry. Elena's apron wouldn't have been in a donation pile. She needed it for work. And Lily's blanket wouldn't have been donated. Elena had told me Lily wouldn't sleep without it.
I wanted to reach in and pull them out. I wanted to ask him why Elena's name was on that pocket. But I knew if I touched anything now, if I made it a crime scene before the sheriff could see it, I'd give Vic room to say I planted it or that I'd jumped to conclusions.
So I just nodded.
"Alright," I said. "Probably just that blanket shifting around. Makes a noise when you turn."
Vic closed the door. The interior light went off and the blanket and apron disappeared into the tinted dark.
"Want me to unload it at the hall tonight?" he asked.
"No," I said. "Leave it. I'll have someone sort it tomorrow."
I stepped back a half step into the study, still holding Lily. The warm lamp light was behind us now, the cold air still coming through the doors.
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Vic stayed by the SUV, his hand back on the roof. He was watching us through the diamond glass, waiting to see if I'd let it go.
I didn't. I just held Lily and kept my eyes on him until he looked away first.
