She can rest after dinner.’
There was a silence so complete I could hear the refrigerator humming.
Then my father answered in the calm voice he used in court right before somebody realized they had made the worst mistake of their lives.
‘This is Chief Justice Adrian Vale,’ he said.
‘Give the phone back to my daughter.’
Margaret froze.
In the dining room, Jonathan stood up so fast his chair scraped backward.
Thomas came into the pantry, confusion turning to panic as soon as he saw Jonathan’s face.
Men in legal circles knew my father’s name the way people know the weather when a storm is coming.
I took the phone back with shaking hands.
‘Claire,’ my father said, soft again, ‘are you bleeding?’
I looked down.
There was a faint stain on the front of my dress.
Thomas saw it too.
For the first time that night, he looked frightened.
