Chapter 4 - The Missing Two Hours.
Evan did not step into the elevator.
He stood between the open doors with one hand curled around his keys and stared at Detective Cho as though the problem were the camera rather than what the camera had recorded.
“That’s impossible,” he said.
The detective did not move.
“It’s time-stamped.”
“Then the timestamp is wrong.”
The same excuse as the oven clock.
I almost laughed, but nothing about it was funny.
The elevator doors began to close.
Evan put out his arm and stopped them.
“I went downstairs.”
“The lobby footage shows you leaving through the front entrance.”
“I went to the pharmacy.”
“For almost two hours?”
“I had errands.”
“Where was Sophie?”
His mouth opened.
No sound came out.
I had spent seven years watching Evan win arguments by answering quickly.
The delay terrified me.
“She was asleep.”
I felt something inside me tear.
“You left her alone?”
He looked at me, annoyed now.
“She was asleep.”
“She is two.”
“Almost three.”
Anna made a sound behind me that was half disbelief and half fury.
Evan pointed at her.
“Stay out of this.”
Detective Cho stepped slightly between them.
“Mr. Mercer, where did you go?”
“I told you.”
“No, you said pharmacy and errands.”
“That’s where I went.”
“Which pharmacy?”
Evan named one four blocks from our building.
The detective wrote it down.
“What else?”
“A hardware store.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember the hardware store you visited today?”
Evan’s face reddened.
“I’m not doing this in a hallway.”
Detective Cho nodded.
“We can use a private room.”
“I want a lawyer.”
“That is your choice.”
“I’m leaving.”
The detective stepped aside.
He did not physically stop him.
Evan walked into the elevator.
Before the doors closed, he looked directly at me.
“Rachel, do not let them turn you against me.”
I heard my own voice before I had time to choose the words.
“You left Sophie alone.”
His expression hardened.
“She was fine when I left.”
The doors closed.
That sentence followed me back to Sophie’s room.
She was fine when I left.
If he was telling the truth, then whatever happened occurred while she was alone.
If he was lying, the truth might be worse.
Anna sat beside me while I held Sophie’s hand.
Neither of us spoke for several minutes.
My sister had always disliked Evan, but she had been careful not to make me choose between them.
Now she looked like she was physically restraining herself from saying everything she had swallowed over the years.
“I should have seen this,” I said.
“No.”
“I should have.”
“You saw what he let you see.”
“I trusted him with her.”
“You trusted her father.”
The distinction hurt.
I rested my forehead against the bed rail.
Sophie stirred.
“Blue cup,” she murmured.
“I know, baby.”
Her obsession with that stupid cup had become the only normal thing left in the world.
A nurse brought me water in a paper cup.
I drank because she stood there until I did.
Outside the room, the hospital shifted into evening.
The overhead lights seemed brighter as the windows darkened.
Detective Cho returned just before seven.
He asked whether I had someone who could stay with Sophie while we spoke.
Anna immediately volunteered.
We moved to the family room.
He carried a printed still image from the lobby footage.
Evan was visible in the frame at 11:32 a.m.
He wore the same gray hoodie he had on at the hospital.
His hands were empty.
“Do you recognize what he’s carrying?”
The detective pointed.
I leaned closer.
A black laptop sleeve was tucked beneath Evan’s left arm.
“That’s his work computer.”
“Does he normally take it on errands?”
“Sometimes.”
“Does he work from home?”
“Yes.”
“Was he scheduled to work today?”
“No.”
The detective placed another still on the table.
This one showed Evan returning at 1:21 p.m.
He was no longer carrying the sleeve.
Instead, he had a small white shopping bag.
“Did he bring the laptop back later?”
“I don’t know.”
“What was in the bag?”
“I can’t tell.”
He showed me a third still.
At 1:37, seventeen minutes after Evan returned, a woman entered the building.
She wore a red coat and carried the black laptop sleeve.
I stared at the picture.
“I don’t know her.”
“Look carefully.”
“I’ve never seen her.”
She had straight dark hair, large sunglasses, and the posture of someone who knew exactly where she was going.
The fourth still showed her leaving at 2:08.
No laptop sleeve.
“Who is she?” Anna asked.
“We’re working on that.”
My stomach tightened.
“Was she in our apartment?”
“We don’t know yet.”
I thought about the question the hospital staff had asked Evan.
Was anyone else in the apartment today?
He had laughed.
No.
Why would anyone be there?
Another lie.
“Did she arrive after the fall?”
I asked.
Detective Cho looked at his notes.
“Based on what Judith told you, something had already happened by 12:26.”
“So he left after Sophie was hurt?”
“We cannot establish that yet.”
“But he told his mother she had a tumble before he left.”
“Possibly.”
The detective’s caution frustrated me because my mind was already sprinting ahead.
He kept bringing it back to what could be proven.
Then his phone buzzed.
He glanced at the screen.
“We confirmed the pharmacy visit.”
Hope flickered.
Maybe there was an explanation.
Maybe he had realized Sophie was ill and gone for medicine.
“What did he buy?”
“He did not enter the pharmacy at 11:32.”
My hope died.
“He entered at 1:14, seven minutes before returning home.”
“What did he buy?”
“We don’t have that information yet.”
“Where was he before that?”
“We are checking.”
I closed my eyes.
One hour and forty-two minutes of my daughter’s day existed only inside Evan’s lies.
Detective Cho asked whether Evan’s employer might know the woman in the red coat.
“He works at Calver & Reed.”
“What does he do?”
“Operations manager.”
“Can you identify coworkers from photos?”
“Probably.”
Anna looked at me.
“Rachel, I’ve seen her.”
I turned.
“When?”
“At your Christmas party.”
The woman in the red coat suddenly had a place in my memory.
There had been a younger woman standing beside the dessert table arguing with Evan about something.
I had only heard the last part.
You said it was handled.
Evan had told me it was a vendor problem.
“What was her name?”
Anna frowned.
“Nora.”
I remembered.
Nora Vale.
She worked in finance.
I had seen her name on emails.
Detective Cho wrote it down.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Evan appeared.
I’m getting a lawyer.
Do not sign anything.
Do not let Anna manipulate you.
I stared at it.
A second message arrived.
I made one mistake leaving Sophie asleep.
That does not make me a monster.
Then a third.
You know how she climbs.
My anger sharpened.
He was already shrinking the day into one mistake.
I typed back.
Where did you go?
Three dots appeared.
They vanished.
Then returned.
Pharmacy.
I sent him the lobby still showing the laptop sleeve.
The dots disappeared.
He did not reply again.
Detective Cho asked me to preserve the messages.
I forwarded screenshots to an email account Evan did not know I used for freelance work.
“Can he access your main email?”
“Yes.”
“Change the password.”
I did.
Then I changed my cloud account.
My banking password.
My phone passcode.
Each change felt both ridiculous and necessary.
I had never hidden anything from my husband.
Now I was protecting information from him while our daughter slept fifty feet away.
At eight fifteen, Dr. Benton came in with another update.
Sophie’s neurological checks were stable.
They wanted to keep her overnight.
The confirmatory medication test would take longer.
She asked if I had any questions.
I had hundreds.
Only one came out.
“Could she have swallowed something before he left and then been alone?”
“Yes.”
“Would he have known she was unusually sleepy?”
“If he described her as difficult to wake to someone at noon, that would be concerning.”
I looked at Detective Cho.
Judith had ended the call before answering that question.
We still did not know exactly what Evan told her.
Then Anna’s phone rang.
She frowned at the number.
“It’s Mom.”
I checked mine.
Three missed calls from my mother.
News was spreading.
I answered before panic could reach the entire family.
My mother cried quietly when I explained the basic facts.
She did not ask why I had not noticed sooner.
She only said, “I’m coming.”
After I hung up, another message appeared.
This one was from a number I did not recognize.
I almost ignored it.
Then I saw the first line.
Rachel, my name is Nora Vale.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
The next message arrived before I could respond.
I was in your apartment today.
A third followed.
Evan lied to you.
May you like
Then the last one.
And I saw Sophie before he called you.
