Chapter 1 - The Bare Hand
Arthur’s fingers were already locked around my wrist when I opened my eyes.
He yanked me halfway off the emergency-room bed, sending a blade of pain through my ribs. The monitor lead snapped loose from my chest. My knees struck the metal rail before I fell back against the mattress.
“Stay quiet,” he said through his teeth, “or your sister’s next.”
Chloe lay on the second bed behind him, her brown hair tangled against a green hospital pillow. Her eyes were closed. A purple bruise spread beneath her jaw, almost identical to the one I could feel swelling on mine.
Our mother stood near the curtain, gripping her purse with both hands.
“They fell down the stairs,” Eleanor told the doctor. “Do your job.”
Dr. Hayes was a gray-haired emergency physician with a tired face and an unusually steady voice. He looked from Chloe to me, then at Arthur’s hand pinning my shoulder.
“Take your hand off her.”
Arthur smiled as though the doctor had misunderstood a family joke.
“Maya gets hysterical after accidents.”
The bracelet around my wrist read CHLOE VANCE.
I stared at it, confused. My head throbbed too badly to understand why.
Dr. Hayes noticed.
“Which one is Maya?” he asked.
Our mother answered immediately. “The girl by the window.”
There was no window in the room.
I tried to sit up. Arthur pressed down on the exact place where my ribs hurt most.
“He does this on purpose,” I gasped.
Mother’s fingers tightened around the purse. I could see two insurance cards sticking from the outer pocket, one behind the other.
Arthur leaned toward me.
“You hit your head,” he said softly. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
Behind him, Chloe moved.
Her eyelids fluttered open, unfocused at first. Then she saw Arthur’s left hand braced against my gown.
Bare.
She swallowed painfully.
“Ask him,” she whispered, “why he takes off his ring first.”
Arthur’s smile disappeared.
His bare hand slipped behind his back.
Dr. Hayes did not look at Chloe. He kept watching Arthur.
“What ring?” he asked.
Arthur stepped away from my bed.
Mother moved toward the curtain, but Dr. Hayes blocked her path without touching her.
“Mrs. Vance,” he said, “put the purse on the chair.”
Her face drained of color.
That frightened me more than Arthur’s grip.
May you like
Because it meant Chloe had not revealed something Mother had failed to notice.
She had revealed something Mother already understood.
