Chapter 8
Alessandro let the phone ring until the sound stopped.
The lobby seemed too large after that. Sunlight lay across the tile, and every person near the front desk looked busy with something ordinary. A man carried a paper cup. A woman checked a folder against a clipboard. Nobody looked like the person who had watched my bed.
Ms. Bell held out her hand. “Speaker next time.”
Alessandro nodded. “If she calls again.”
“She will,” Ms. Bell said. “People who rely on private conversations usually try to regain control when the conversation becomes a record.”
I didn't understand all of that, but I understood the word control. The woman had used it without saying it. She had put money under Rabbit's ear. She had made me stand by the table. She had watched what happened afterward.
Alessandro crouched until his eyes were level with mine. His wristwatch caught a thin stripe of light.
“You don't have to speak to her,” he said.
“What if she asks for Rabbit?”
“Then Rabbit stays with you.”
“What if she tells me I did something bad?”
His mouth tightened for a second. “You warned me. That wasn't bad.”
The phone rang again before I could answer.
Alessandro looked at Ms. Bell. She moved closer, her small recorder already in her hand. Then he pressed the green button and set the phone on the top of the folder.
“Hello.”
For a moment, there was only a soft rushing sound.
Then the woman said, “You shouldn't frighten Emma with adult problems.”
Her voice was quiet and controlled. I knew it at once. My fingers closed around Rabbit's left ear.
Alessandro didn't look at me. “Who is this?”
“You know who this is.”
“No. I know what your voice sounds like.”
The woman paused. I imagined her smiling, though I had never seen her face. “You're making a scene over a piece of bread.”
Ms. Bell wrote something down.
Alessandro's voice stayed even. “You sent a message about Emma.”
“I sent a correction. She misunderstood what she saw.”
“Then explain it.”
“She was told to stay quiet. Children need clear rules.”
My stomach turned cold.
Alessandro shifted the phone a little closer to Ms. Bell. “You gave her money.”
“I gave her something to keep because she was upset.”
“You put it under her rabbit's ear.”
Another pause. This one was longer.
Then the woman said, “You should be more careful about what you accuse people of.”
I could hear the smile in her voice now.
Alessandro looked at me, not at the phone. “Emma is here. She won't speak with you.”
The woman's breathing changed. It became sharper, though her words remained soft.
“Emma, if you're listening, you know grown-ups have consequences too. If he keeps asking questions, people will decide you invented this because you wanted attention.”
My face burned. I looked down at Rabbit's worn paw.
Alessandro's hand moved across the table, stopping near mine without touching it. He left the choice to me.
I shook my head.
He understood. “You will not speak to her.”
“You can't keep her hidden forever.”
“This call is being preserved.”
The woman laughed once, without humor. “Preserved for what? A frightened child and a plate of toast?”
“Bread,” Ms. Bell corrected quietly, though the woman couldn't hear her.
Alessandro said, “Do not contact Emma again.”
“Or what?”
He looked at Ms. Bell. She gave a small nod.
“Or the next contact goes to the people whose job is to review it.”
The line went silent.
Then the woman said, “He'll eat it if she obeys.”
I stopped breathing.
Alessandro's face changed, not dramatically. His eyes went still, and his hand closed into a fist beside the phone.
Ms. Bell reached forward and ended the call.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
I whispered, “That was what she said before.”
“I know,” Alessandro said.
“She meant you.”
“We don't know that yet.”
“But she said he.”
“I heard her.”
He didn't tell me I was wrong. That helped more than if he had.
Ms. Bell saved the recording and wrote down the time. Alessandro asked whether the woman could learn where we were. Ms. Bell said the call itself didn't prove that, but the messages and the photograph made the risk plain enough to change our plans.
We left through a side entrance instead of the lobby. Alessandro kept one hand near my shoulder without putting it on me. Outside, the air smelled like warm pavement and cut grass.
In the car, he checked the locks twice.
I watched his phone as it rested in the cup holder.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“We report the call.”
“Will they believe her?”
“They'll hear what she said.”
He started the engine, but he didn't pull away.
A notification appeared on the screen. Not a call this time. A message from an unknown number.
You know how adults hear things when a child is difficult.
Alessandro read it. Then he handed the phone to Ms. Bell, who was waiting beside the car.
The woman's voice had reached for me through the speaker. Now her words were in the file.
I held Rabbit against my chest and looked through the windshield at the road ahead.
May you like
I still felt afraid.
But the fear was no longer trapped inside me alone.
