Chapter 13 - You Cannot Imagine
I don't remember walking to the kitchen. I remember Daniel's hand under my elbow and the cold tile bleeding through my socks, and Noah's weight gone from my arms for a minute because Daniel had him against his shoulder.
The kitchen lights were too bright after the dining room. Stainless steel and the smell of bleach and reheated gravy. Marissa had a damp towel in her hands and she kept folding it. Daniel pulled out a chair for me at the little prep table in the back, where the staff ate, and sat me down like I might fall again.
"You should be in bed," Marissa whispered.
"I'm staying," I said. My voice sounded scraped out. The wristband from the hospital was still on my wrist, frayed at the edge. Daniel set his hand over it, just for a second.
He looked at Marissa. "No Evelyn. No Victor. Just tell us."
Marissa glanced at the back hallway that led to the dining room. The double doors were shut, but we could hear the faint clink of ice in a glass. Victor was still out there with the sheriff's card in his pocket. She twisted the towel tighter.
"Start when you brought the plates," Daniel said.
She nodded and breathed in. "You were by the crib. You said you felt dizzy. I told you to sit. You said Noah was fussy and you didn't want Mrs. Evelyn to — " She stopped and looked at me. "You were pale. I went to get you water from the cart."
I tried to picture it. The chandelier too hot above the table. The rolled towels on the shelves blurring.
"I heard it," Marissa said. "The thud. And then Noah crying, loud. I came back from the shelves and you were on the rug. On your side. Your gown — " She didn't finish.
Daniel's jaw moved. "Then what?"
"I yelled for Mrs. Evelyn," Marissa said. "She was right there at the table. She looked over. She heard it too. She heard you hit the floor and she heard Noah."
The refrigerator hummed. Noah made a small sound against Daniel's shoulder and Daniel shifted him automatically, patting his back.
"What did she do?" Daniel asked. His voice was low.
Marissa's eyes filled. "She cut another piece of chicken. She said, she's lazy, she still hadn't finished serving dinner."
I felt Daniel go still next to me. That was the line from that night. I'd heard it through the floor like it was underwater.
"I said Mrs. Clara needs help, the baby's crying," Marissa went on. "She told me to finish serving first. She said don't make a scene in front of dinner. She said if I touched you she'd let me go. She said she'd say I pushed you."
My hands were shaking on the table. Daniel covered them with his free hand.
"You left anyway," he said. It wasn't a question.
"I ran for the back hall to get my phone," Marissa said. "To call for help. That's when Mr. Victor came through the rear doors. He grabbed my arm. He said, what? You can't imagine what Evelyn did? That's what he said to me, like a joke. Like I was overreacting."
Daniel stared at her. "Victor said that?"
"Yes. He held my wrist so hard. He said go back in there and keep quiet or you'll be out tonight. He didn't look at you once, Mrs. Clara. He didn't look at the baby. He just pulled me back toward the doors."
That matched what I'd half-seen from the floor. The doors bursting. Daniel holding Noah and keeping his hand on my neck.
"He wasn't coming to help," Daniel said slowly.
"No," Marissa said. "He came to stop me."
Noah started to fuss, a thin cry, and Daniel stood and swayed with him, the way the nurse had shown him. The white swaddle was loose at the corner and I reached up to tuck it, my fingers clumsy. Daniel bent a little so I could.
"How long?" Daniel asked. "How long were they on the floor before I came in?"
Marissa looked at the clock above the stove like she wished it would answer for her. "Seven, eight minutes. Maybe more. You were breathing but you wouldn't wake up. Noah was screaming in the crib. Mrs. Evelyn kept eating."
Seven minutes. I tried to count it in breaths and couldn't.
Daniel turned away toward the sink, holding Noah tight to his chest. His neck tattoos stood out. He didn't punch anything. He just stood there, his shoulders shaking once.
"What did you do to my wife that I can't even imagine?" he said, very quiet. It was what he'd yelled at the end, before everything faded to black. Now it wasn't a yell. It was him finally hearing the answer.
He turned back. His eyes were red. "She heard Clara fall. She heard our son cry. And she chose dinner. And she threatened you if you helped."
Marissa nodded, crying now without noise.
Daniel came back to the table and knelt so he was level with me, Noah still on his shoulder. "Did you hear me?" he asked me. "Clara?"
I nodded. My throat hurt. "Don't — don't leave me on that rug again."
"I won't," he said. "We're not staying in that suite. Not under her."
From the hallway we heard a chair scrape in the dining room, Evelyn's voice rising, Victor answering her. Daniel didn't look toward it. He looked at Marissa.
"You're not losing your job over this," he said. "If they fire you, I'll hire you. You stay with us until this is done."
Marissa pressed the towel to her mouth. "I'm scared of them."
May you like
"So am I," Daniel said. "But we're leaving her control. Tonight we pack."
I leaned my head against Noah's warm back where he lay on Daniel's shoulder, and I could feel his tiny breathing through the swaddle. That was the only steady thing in the kitchen.
