I had noticed the frame lying that way weeks earlier, but she had told me Ava must have knocked it over. I had believed her.
Now I picked it up.
Danielle was smiling at the camera, one arm wrapped around my waist. Her other hand rested on her pregnant belly. The photograph had been taken two weeks before Ava was born.
I turned toward Vanessa.
She was watching me from the hallway.
“Why was this facedown?””
“I don’t know.””
“You told me Ava knocked it over.””
“Maybe she did.””
“The glass isn’t broken. The stand isn’t damaged. Someone deliberately turned it around.””
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“Are you going to accuse me of murdering your wife next?””
I didn’t answer.
Her face changed.
For the first time, she seemed to realize how close she had come to saying something she couldn’t take back.
I carried Ava upstairs to her bedroom and changed her into dry clothes. While I worked, she sat on the bed with her knees pulled against her chest, staring at the door.
“Daddy?””
“I’m right here.””
“Are you mad at me?””
The question hurt more than anything Vanessa had said.
I sat beside her.
“No, sweetheart. Never.””
“Even if Mommy is really there?””
I brushed a curl away from her damp cheek.
“Especially if Mommy is really there.””
Ava studied my face.
“Mommy said you forgot her.””
My throat tightened.
“What else did she say?””
“She said the bad lady tells lies. She said not to drink the lemonade.””
I stared at her.
“What lemonade?””
“The pink lemonade in the refrigerator. Miss Vanessa said I should drink it every night because it helps me sleep.””
I felt cold despite my wet clothes.
Vanessa had started giving Ava a special bedtime drink about six months earlier. She claimed it was a natural sleep aid made from fruit juice and herbs. I had never questioned it because Ava seemed calmer afterward.
“Did you drink it last night?””
Ava shook her head.
“I poured it into the plant.””
“Why?””
“Mommy said not to.””
I looked toward the bedroom door.
Ava continued in a whisper.
“Mommy said the juice makes me forget when she comes to visit.””
I pulled my daughter into my arms.
My mind raced through every possibility, searching for a harmless explanation. A nightmare. An imaginary friend. A story overheard from television.
But then I remembered the locked door.
The brass key.
Vanessa’s expression when I found it.
And the question she had asked before I had even mentioned a room.
I kissed Ava’s forehead.
“Stay here. Lock the door behind me. Don’t open it for anyone except me.””
She grabbed my sleeve.
“Promise you’ll come back?””
“I promise.””
I went downstairs.
Vanessa was standing in the kitchen, pouring a glass of pink lemonade.
She looked up when I entered.
“Has Ava calmed down?””
I stared at the glass.
“Put it down.””
Her hand stopped.
“What?””
“The lemonade.””
She placed it on the counter with exaggerated care.
“Marcus, what is happening to you?””
I walked toward the refrigerator and opened it.
Inside sat a glass pitcher filled with pink liquid. Beside it were several small amber bottles, each without a label.
I pulled one out.
“What are these?””
“Herbal extracts.””
“Which herbs?””
“I don’t remember.””
“Where did you buy them?””
Vanessa’s jaw tightened.
“You are behaving like a paranoid man.””
I placed the bottle beside the glass.
“Then you won’t mind if I have it tested.””
She lunged forward and snatched the bottle from the counter.
“No!””
The sound echoed through the kitchen.
We stared at each other.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly.
I held out my hand.
“Give it to me.””
She backed away, clutching the bottle.
“You don’t understand what you’re doing.””
“Then explain it.””
“I can’t.””
“Why not?””
Her eyes filled with tears again.
“Because if I tell you, everything will be destroyed.””
“What will be destroyed?””
She looked toward the ceiling, toward Ava’s bedroom.
Then she whispered, “Your daughter will never forgive you.””
I felt the room tilt.
Before I could speak, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
An unknown number.
I answered.
A woman’s voice came through the speaker, faint and ragged, as though she were speaking from the bottom of a well.
“Marcus?””
I stopped breathing.
There was only one person in the world who said my name that way, with the slightest upward lilt at the end.
“Danielle?””
Vanessa dropped the bottle.
It shattered against the tile.
The woman on the phone began to cry.
“Marcus, listen carefully. You have to get Ava out of that house before midnight.””
I gripped the counter.
“Where are you?””
Un long silence suivit.
Puis Danielle a murmuré : « Je suis en dessous de toi. »
La communication a été interrompue.
