Chapter 4
Marcus asked Tara to stay in the bedroom for a minute. He didn't raise his voice to do it. He just stood in the hallway with his hand on the doorframe and said, "Give us a minute," and she looked past him at me once before she went inside and closed the door. Not all the way. Just enough that I couldn't see her anymore.
He came back to the living room and sat down on the bottom stair. That put us at the same height. My sweater felt too warm suddenly and I pulled at the ribbed neckline. The pendant light over the stairs was on even though it was daytime, that warm yellow circle on the ceiling that buzzed a little if you listened close.
"You okay to tell me what happened while I was gone?" he asked. "Just what you did. Start to finish."
I nodded, but my throat was tight. I didn't want to get it wrong. If I said the wrong time or forgot something, I was scared he'd think I was lying.
I tried to remember being alone.
When you left, I started by the staircase. I remembered that because the hardwood creaked under my socks when I shifted my weight. I had my math worksheet on the second step and I was sitting sideways with my back against the banister. The furnace kicked on around then. I could hear that low hum through the vent by the front door. I didn't look at the time on my phone. I just kept working on the problems.
"What were you watching?" Marcus asked. Quiet, not like a test.
"I wasn't at first," I said. "I did homework first. Then I turned the TV on."
He nodded for me to keep going.
I told him after I finished the front side of the worksheet, I left it on the stairs and went to the kitchen. I got water in the blue plastic cup we keep by the sink. I didn't get ice. I remember because the fridge makes that loud crack when it drops ice and it didn't. I stood at the counter and drank it. The TV was on in the living room but low. Some cartoon was on, I wasn't really watching. I could still hear the furnace.
"Did you go near the entry table?" he asked.
I shook my head right away. "No."
Tara's purse was on that little table by the front door. The black one with the gold clasp. I had walked past it when I went to the kitchen, but I didn't stop. I didn't touch it. I didn't even look inside it. I told him that exactly how it happened.
"I walked past it to get to the kitchen and then back to the stairs," I said. "I didn't touch it."
Marcus didn't say I believe you right away like in the movies. He just listened and his eyes stayed on my face. He had his hands clasped between his knees and his silver watch caught the light from the window.
"Where did you sit after the kitchen?" he asked.
"Back on the stairs for a little," I said. "Then I moved to the couch. The worksheet was still on the step."
That was true. I had moved because my leg fell asleep against the banister. On the couch I pulled my feet up and tucked my sweater over my knees. The pendant light was still on. I could see dust in the light over the stairs. I remembered thinking I should have turned it off to save power but I didn't get up.
"How long was I gone?" he asked.
"I don't know," I said. I hated that answer, but it was the truth. "It didn't feel long. Maybe twenty minutes? I didn't check."
He was quiet for a second. The furnace hum stopped and the house got really quiet except for the TV still going low in the other room. Somebody on the show laughed and it sounded weird in our quiet house.
"Maya," he said, "did you open any bag or purse at all while I was out? Even to move it?"
"No," I said. My voice came out smaller than I wanted it to. "I didn't take your money. I didn't touch her purse."
I felt my eyes get hot again and I pressed my fingers into the thick knit of my sleeves. The sweater was soft and I could feel the ribs under my thumbs. I tried to breathe slow like he had shown me before when I got upset, in through the nose, out through the mouth.
Marcus leaned forward a little. He didn't touch me until I nodded that it was okay, and then he put his hand on my shoulder. Just there, steady.
"Thank you for telling me straight," he said. "No extra stuff. Just what you remember."
I looked toward the bedroom door. It was still cracked that same inch. No shadow moved behind it. No sound came out.
"Do you think she heard me?" I whispered.
"No," he said. "This is just between us right now. I'm going to keep what you said separate from what Tara said, so I can compare. That's how we find the truth."
May you like
I nodded again and let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. The pendant light buzzed faintly above us. The hardwood was cold under my socks where I'd curled my feet off the stair.
I had told him everything I did while he was gone. Every place I sat, every thing I touched. None of it was near her purse.
