Chapter 3 - The Question Colby Wouldn't Answer
The next morning, Colby called Bernadette seventeen times.
She answered once.
“Bring my son home.”
“He's not coming home while the county is investigating.”
“You always do this,” Colby said. “You pick somebody else over me.”
Bernadette closed her eyes.
There it was.
The sentence had followed him since adolescence—through school suspensions, bar fights in his twenties, and two explosive arguments at Hale Custom Millwork, the cabinetry company Bernadette had built with her late husband.
For years, Bernadette had translated Colby's temper into stress.
She had cleaned up consequences because she loved him.
Now Milo had paid for that habit.
“Who is the man Shana took Milo to see?”
Silence.
Then Colby said, “Ask my wife.”
“I'm asking you.”
“I said ask her.”
He hung up.
That afternoon, a CPS investigator interviewed Bernadette. She told the truth, including the parts that embarrassed her: Colby had always had a temper. He had punched walls. He had once shoved a foreman at work. Bernadette had made excuses because he had never, to her knowledge, hurt Milo.
The investigator asked whether Shana had previously been violent with the child.
Bernadette wanted to say no.
Instead she remembered Shana gripping Milo's chin too hard at Thanksgiving because he wouldn't smile for a picture.
She remembered Milo flinching when Shana raised her voice.
“I should've paid more attention,” Bernadette said.
That evening, Milo's cardiology office called Bernadette because she was temporarily listed as his responsible caregiver.
A nurse said the physician wanted to confirm a genetics appointment scheduled for Friday.
“Genetics?” Bernadette asked.
“Yes. Mrs. Hale requested it after receiving updated family-history information.”
Bernadette looked toward the living room, where Milo was arranging the fallen birthday gifts she had collected from Colby's house.
Updated family history.
Bernadette asked one more question.
May you like
“Who provided it?”
The nurse hesitated.
