Chapter 8 - The Diapers Still on the Floor
I didn't sleep much that night. Every time I closed my eyes I heard Noah crying through the wall, and then Daniel's voice low over him, and then nothing, which was worse. By morning my arms ached to hold him and my head felt stuffed with cotton.
Daniel brought him to me just after light came through the blinds. He laid him in the crook of my arm so I didn't have to lift.
"He's okay," he said. "You rest. The deputy wants to look at the dining room with me. You don't have to go in there."
I grabbed his sleeve before he could stand. "I want to see."
He looked at me a second, then nodded. He got the wheelchair from the hallway closet, the one they'd brought up from downstairs last night. I hated sitting in it in my gray gown with the wristband still on, but I hated being left in bed more.
The dining room smelled cold. Bacon grease and formula and something metallic. The chandelier was off now, morning light coming gray through the tall windows. The table was still set from the night before. Two plates with food dried on them. My plate, I realized, still empty at the end.
Nobody had touched it.
The deputy was already there, a woman about my age with her hair in a ponytail, notebook open. She nodded at me. "Mrs. Hayes? I'm Deputy Ruiz. You just listen, okay? Yell if you need anything."
I nodded. My throat was too dry to talk anyway.
The crib was where I remembered it, dark wood pushed close to the rug. The clear bassinet was right beside it, a little crooked, like someone had bumped it. My blanket was half off the rug, and there was a dark stain I didn't want to look at.
"Show me where you found her," Ruiz said to Daniel.
Daniel parked my chair by the doorway and walked to the rug. "Right here. On her side. Her face was toward the crib. Noah was in the crib crying. The swaddle was twisted around his legs."
Ruiz wrote that down, then looked at the distance between the rug and the bassinet. "So she didn't fall coming from the table. She fell working at the crib."
"Yes," Daniel said. "She was tending him."
From the far side of the table Evelyn made a small sound. She was dressed already, burgundy blouse buttoned, pearls on, hair in her bun. She looked like she hadn't slept either. "That is not fair to say. She was clumsy. She fainted. Girls do that after birth if they don't eat."
Victor stood behind her chair in his black suit, his jaw bruised from last night. He didn't look at me. "My sister eats. She just had an accident."
Ruiz didn't answer. She walked to the overturned cart. It was still on its side by the shelves, wheels spinning a little when she touched it. Diapers fanned out across the hardwood, white and blue, a couple towels balled up under it. She took photos with her phone.
"Who knocked this over?" she asked.
"I did," Daniel said. "When Victor grabbed Marissa. I hit him and he fell back into it."
Victor shifted. "He overreacted. I was just stopping the housekeeper from screaming and scaring the baby. He came at me for nothing."
Marissa stood by the rear double doors, hands twisted in her apron. Her brown hair was pulling loose. She didn't look up. "I wasn't screaming, sir. I was trying to get to Mrs. Hayes."
Evelyn waved a hand like she was brushing crumbs off the table. "Marissa exaggerates. I told her to finish serving dinner. Clara was lazy about it. She still hadn't finished, isn't that right? She lay down to get out of work and Marissa made a scene."
The words hit me harder than the light. She's lazy, she still hadn't finished serving dinner. Same flat voice as last night while I was on the floor.
Daniel's hands curled. "Mom. Stop."
Ruiz held up her hand. "One at a time." She pointed at the shelves. Built-in wood, rolled towels neat on top, diaper boxes stacked, two teddy bears watching from the middle shelf. On the floor below them was a scuff mark and one of Evelyn's low shoes, kicked off last night.
"Mrs. Hayes senior, where were you when Mr. Hayes hit Mr. Cole?"
Evelyn pressed her lips together. "I was at the table. Then I tried to take the baby so Daniel could help his wife. A grandmother's instinct. I slipped on those diapers. That's all."
Ruiz looked at Daniel.
"That's not all," he said. His voice was steady but his neck was red above his tattoos. "She lunged for Noah while I was holding him. I turned so she couldn't grab him. She fell because she was pulling at my arm."
Victor stepped forward. "He's making it sound worse. He attacked me, then he scared his own mother. It was chaos. Nobody neglected anybody."
Ruiz wrote for a long minute. The room was quiet except Noah fussing in my arms. I rocked him without thinking, and he settled.
She finally looked up at Victor. "Sir, if no one was neglected, why was a postpartum patient in a hospital gown and wristband on the floor serving dinner instead of in bed?"
Victor opened his mouth, then closed it.
Evelyn answered for him. "Because this house has rules. I had rules for my boys. Rest makes you weak."
Ruiz shut her notebook. "I'm not deciding anything today. I'm documenting placement. Crib and bassinet by the rug support she collapsed while caring for the infant. Cart spill pattern and shelf scuff support a second struggle after Mr. Hayes intervened. I'll attach the photos and the hospital discharge papers."
She glanced at me, softer. "You did good remembering what you could."
Daniel came back to my chair and put his hand on my shoulder. His fingers were shaking. Evelyn watched that hand like it burned her.
May you like
As Ruiz bagged one damp towel from under the cart, Evelyn said, very quiet, "You're turning this house against me over spilled diapers."
Nobody answered her. The table sat between us, still set, still waiting.
