Sarah smiled.
“Did you like him right away?”
“Yes. I was annoyed about that.”
“What did he like about you?”
“He said I looked like somebody who would tell him when he was being an idiot.”
“Was he right?”
“Frequently.”
The porch light came on above them. Through the screen, Sarah could see Hank at the kitchen table, talking quietly to Cal on the phone. He looked up, saw them sitting together, and looked away before the sight could become something he was taking for himself.
“Did Dad really trust him?” Sarah asked.
Diana followed her gaze.
“Yes.”
“Even with everything?”
“Your father saw things in people before they always knew how to be those things.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“Sometimes it was.”
“Do you trust him?”
Her mother took a long time to answer.
“With you today? Yes. With the truth, I'm learning.”
Sarah nodded. It was the first answer that sounded like her own.
Monday brought a letter from the manager confirming her job would be there when she could return. Jimmy had apparently stood beside him while he wrote it. Sarah read it twice, then saved a copy in three places. She did not realize how much fear she had been holding about rent until it loosened.
She called the admissions office. A woman named Janine explained the form, told her which transcripts to request, and asked whether she wanted a later advising appointment. Sarah said yes. When Janine asked for the reason, Sarah almost gave the whole story.
Instead she said, “A family emergency.”
It was enough.
Her life did not have to be a public room just because strangers had forced their way into it.
At noon, Velez called Hank and asked him to come in alone. He told Sarah before he put on his coat.
“Why?” she asked.
“More questions about Rusk.”
“Are you in trouble?”
“I may be asked things that should have consequences.”
“That sounds like yes.”
“It sounds like I don't know yet.”
He paused at the door.
“I'll call Ruth when I'm done.”
Sarah looked up from the application.
“Call me too.”
His expression shifted, just slightly.
“All right.”
The call did not come until five. By then Sarah had checked her phone often enough that Diana finally sat beside her without saying anything.
Hank sounded tired.
“They're keeping me a little longer. I'm not under arrest. I wanted you to hear that from me.”
“What happened?”
“Rusk says I knew what Michael was doing before the warehouse. Says I was part of a plan to frighten him.”
Sarah felt the room tilt.
“Were you?”
“No.”
He did not sound offended that she had asked.
“What does Velez think?”
“She hasn't told me.”
Sarah stared at the table.
“Do you have a lawyer?”
“Yes. Cal helped me call one.”
“Good.”
A pause.
“You sound like Ruth,” he said.
“Then listen.”
He laughed once, without much breath.
“I will.”
Afterward, Sarah went into the guest room and closed the door. She sat on the bed with Toast in her lap. She wanted to believe Hank so badly that the wanting frightened her. She had built a life around one false story already. She would not build another around gratitude.
When Ruth knocked, Sarah let her in.
“Did he lie to us?” she asked.
“I don't know of a lie that would make that accusation true.”
“That isn't the same as no.”
“No.”
Sarah rubbed her eyes.
“I hate careful answers.”
Ruth sat in the chair beside the dresser.
“Careful isn't always the enemy.”
“I know. I just want somebody to say one thing I can stand on.”
Ruth considered that.
“He came back,” she said. “He told the detective things he could have kept buried. Today he called before somebody else could tell you a worse version. Those are facts.”
Sarah looked down at the cat.
“They don't prove everything.”
“No. They give you something real while the rest gets proved.”
Hank returned after dark. He looked as if he had carried the motorcycle home instead of ridden it. Cal dropped him off because he had left the bike at the precinct. A lawyer had advised him not to discuss the interview in detail until they understood Rusk's claims.
Sarah hated the new barrier. She could also see that it was not the same as the old secrecy.