Chapter 2 - The Daughter Walter Thought He Knew
Walter did not argue with Cole again.
He picked Eli up, carried him outside and put him into the back seat of his truck.
Cole followed them to the driveway.
“You can’t just take him.”
Walter shut Eli’s door.
“Then call Laurel.”
Cole’s confidence slipped.
Only slightly.
But Walter noticed.
He drove directly to an urgent-care clinic near their neighborhood in Olathe, Kansas.
Eli had no serious injury.
He did have fading bruises on his upper arm and one fresh mark along his shoulder.
The nurse asked how they happened.
Walter did not answer for him.
Eli stared at his sneakers.
“Cole gets mad when I don’t listen.”
The nurse’s expression changed.
Because Eli was five, the clinic followed its reporting obligations.
Walter sat beside his grandson while a social worker spoke gently to Eli in another room.
Then Walter called his daughter.
Laurel answered on the sixth ring.
“Dad?”
“Where are you?”
“At work.”
“Leave.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“I have Eli.”
Another silence.
Longer.
Walter heard office noise behind her.
Then Laurel whispered, “Is Cole there?”
“No.”
She exhaled.
Walter felt something cold move through him.
“You knew I was going over there?”
“I knew Eli called you.”
“No. He called you.”
Laurel said nothing.
Walter lowered his voice.
“He said you watched.”
“Dad—”
“Did you?”
“I’m coming.”
“Answer me.”
“I said I’m coming.”
She disconnected.
Walter stared at the phone.
Fifteen minutes later, the social worker returned.
“We need to understand who is safe for Eli tonight.”
Walter looked through the window in the door.
Eli was coloring at a small table.
Walter had spent thirty-three years believing that if Laurel ever needed him, she would call.
May you like
Now he wondered whether his daughter had stopped calling because she was afraid of Cole.
Or because she knew exactly what was happening.
