Chapter 2 - Mason Had Seen Someone at the Window
Claire did not question Mason while Ellie was still crying.
Military training had taught her something motherhood reinforced every day:
Secure first.
Understand second.
She carried Ellie upstairs herself, washed the spaghetti from her hair, changed the soaked onesie, and checked every inch of the baby’s skin. No injury. No bruise. No mark from the incident.
Just hunger, fear, and exhaustion.
Mason stayed beside them the entire time.
He barely spoke.
That worried Claire almost as much as Brenda had.
Once Ellie was warm and drinking a bottle against Claire’s chest, Claire looked at her son.
“You protected your sister.”
Mason stared at the floor.
“I hit Brenda.”
“Yes.”
“Am I in trouble?”
Claire took a breath.
“You should never have been put in a situation where you thought you had to fight an adult.”
That was not the same as praising him for the blow.
Mason understood the distinction.
“She was going to hurt Ellie again.”
“I know.”
Then Claire asked the question she had been holding.
“What did she mean when she said you shouldn’t have gotten involved?”
Mason’s face changed.
He looked toward the bedroom door.
“Someone comes here.”
Claire went completely still.
“Who?”
“I don’t know his name.”
A man.
“How often?”
Mason shrugged nervously.
“Maybe four times.”
“Did Brenda let him in?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Not the front.”
Of course.
He pointed toward the lakeside side of the house.
“The glass door by the breakfast room.”
The path Brenda had looked toward downstairs.
“When?”
“When you’re gone.”
Claire’s pulse sharpened.
“What does he do?”
Mason hesitated.
“He asks Brenda questions.”
“What questions?”
“About us.”
That answer chilled her.
“What about you?”
“If Ellie sleeps.”
“What about Ellie?”
“How much she cries.”
Claire kept her face calm.
“What else?”
Mason looked embarrassed, as if he somehow owned part of the secret simply because he had seen it.
“He asks when you come home. And if you still lock your bedroom.”
There it was.
Not a lover sneaking in.
Not a delivery person.
Someone gathering information about Claire and the children.
“How do you know all this?”
Mason looked at her.
“I hid under the sideboard.”
Claire almost smiled despite everything.
Of course he had.
“What happened when Brenda found out?”
“She said if I kept spying, she’d make me sorry.”
“Was that today?”
He shook his head.
“Today I heard her tell him I remembered his face.”
Claire’s heart kicked once.
“You saw him clearly?”
Mason nodded.
Then his expression grew confused.
“I think I know him.”
Claire felt the room narrow.
“From where?”
Mason looked toward the framed family photographs on her dresser.
May you like
“He was at Dad’s funeral.”
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