Chapter 4 - NORA SAYS EVERYTHING IS FINE
Nora finally called.
Nine minutes.
Ames recorded nothing because the state’s consent rules were complicated and his lawyer had warned him not to improvise.
He put the call on speaker with attorney Naomi Price present.
“Ames.”
“Nora.”
“Is Darby okay?”
“She has a fracture.”
“I know.”
“Did you know before yesterday?”
Silence.
“No.”
“Her school says your husband reported a shoulder strain five days ago.”
“He thought she pulled something.”
“Did she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why was she wearing the boots?”
“She likes them.”
“Eight days straight?”
“She’s five.”
“Why did he tell hospital staff nobody could remove them?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did Darby say he would hurt you if they came off?”
Nora inhaled sharply.
“She gets confused.”
There.
The script.
Different wording.
Same story.
Darby is unreliable.
Ames closed his eyes.
“Nora, are you safe?”
“Yes.”
“Can you say that without him in the room?”
Silence.
Ames’s heart began pounding.
“Nora?”
“I have to go.”
“Where is he?”
“I have to go.”
The line disconnected.
Naomi looked at Ames.
“He was there.”
“Probably.”
“You cannot go to the house.”
“I know.”
“Say it.”
“I am not going to the house.”
Good.
Because the stepfather had already used Ames’s slap.
His lawyer filed for a temporary protective order alleging Ames was violent and threatening.
Evidence:
hospital slap.
Three angry texts from the previous year.
One voicemail where Ames said:
“If you keep blocking my calls with Darby, I will come over there and deal with this face-to-face.”
Bad wording.
Not a threat of violence necessarily.
Still useful against him.
The judge declined to issue a broad order without hearing but restricted direct contact between Ames and the stepfather.
Ames was allowed to see Darby.
Good.
His own action had given the man ammunition.
He hated himself for that.
Not enough to help Darby.
So he changed tactics.
No confrontation.
No social media.
No public accusations.
Evidence.
The police welfare check at Nora’s home had produced nothing obvious.
No visible injuries.
House orderly.
No cries for help.
Nora refused private transport.
However, one officer’s body camera captured something.
When the stepfather moved behind Nora, she stopped speaking.
Not proof.
Observation.
Police requested a second welfare assessment with a domestic-violence specialist.
Nora declined services.
Again.
Adults can refuse rescue.
That became one of Ames’s hardest lessons.
Then the hospital released Darby to him.
He bought her sneakers.
She refused them.
Not because she wanted boots.
Because she wanted no shoes at all.
“Okay,” Ames said.
She rode home in hospital socks.
At the apartment, he prepared pasta.
Darby ate three bites.
Then asked:
“Can Mom come?”
“I hope so.”
“Is he mad?”
“I don’t know.”
“He’ll say I lied.”
“You didn’t.”
Darby’s eyes flicked toward him.
“How know?”
Ames nearly answered:
Because I believe you.
Instead:
“Because adults are checking what happened. You don’t have to prove it to me by remembering everything perfectly.”
She thought.
“What if I forget?”
“Then you forget.”
“What if I say wrong?”
“Then you correct it.”
“What if he says I’m bad?”
Ames sat beside her.
“He does not get to decide what you are.”
She stared at her plate.
Then:
“Mom says he loves us.”
There it was.
The knot.
Ames did not say:
He doesn’t.
He could not know what the stepfather felt.
Love was not an alibi.
“You can love someone and still have to be safe from what they do.”
Darby nodded slowly.
Then she whispered:
“He has another strap.”
Ames’s body went still.
No leading.
“What do you want me to know about that?”
She immediately shut down.
“Nothing.”
“Okay.”
He let it go.
That night, after Darby slept, Detective Ellis called.
The specialist reviewing the medical photographs had an opinion.
Not final.
The ankle injuries were unlikely to be caused by tight rain boots alone.
There were repeated, roughly parallel pressure marks.
“From what?”
“We’re not saying yet.”
“Why?”
“Because we need comparison evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Ames, do not investigate this yourself.”
He almost laughed.
“That sounds encouraging.”
Then Ellis said:
“We’re seeking a search warrant.”
“For the house?”
“No.”
“For where?”
May you like
A pause.
“The stepfather’s workshop.”
