Chapter 5: Ask Him When He Knew
Scott’s key turned in the front door at 6:42.
I was sitting at the kitchen table.
Claire had taken Audrey upstairs.
The house was quiet in the particular way that means something is very wrong.
He came in loosening his tie, saw my face, and stopped.
“What happened?”
“Sit down,” I said.
He didn’t sit.
“Linda—”
“Scott.
Please sit down.”
He pulled out the chair across from me.
He sat.
I placed my phone on the table between us, screen up, with Derek’s message visible.
*Scott already knows some of this.
Ask him how much he knew.
And when.*
Scott looked at the screen.
His jaw tightened.
“What is this?” he said.
“That’s what Derek just sent me.” I watched his face.
“I picked Audrey up from the studio today.
She wasn’t in class.
She hasn’t been in class for three weeks.
She’s been sitting in Derek’s car.”
Scott’s eyes came up from the phone.
“What do you mean sitting in his—”
“He’s been texting her, Scott.
Telling her not to tell us.
Telling her it would be her fault if she did.” My voice stayed level.
I needed it to stay level.
“She was scared.”
He was quiet for a moment.
A long moment.
“I didn’t know about the texting,” he said.
I caught it immediately.
“But you knew something,” I said.
He looked at the table.
“Scott.”
“He mentioned her once.” The words came out slowly, like he was choosing each one.
“Maybe six weeks ago.
He said Audrey was — that she seemed mature for her age.
That she was a lovely girl.” He stopped.
“I told him she was sixteen and changed the subject.”
The kitchen felt very small.
“You changed the subject,” I said.
“I thought he was just—”
“He told you she was mature for her age, and you changed the subject and didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t think it meant—”
“What did you think it meant, Scott?”
He didn’t answer.
“She’s been alone in that car with him for three weeks,” I said.
“Because she was afraid to come to me.
Because she thought we’d take his side.” I pressed my hands flat on the table.
“And you had a moment — six weeks ago — where something felt wrong enough that you changed the subject.
And you said nothing.”
“I didn’t want to cause a problem if it was nothing.”
“It wasn’t nothing.”
Footsteps on the stairs.
We both went still.
Claire appeared in the kitchen doorway.
She looked between us.
“Audrey’s asking for you,” she said to me.
Her voice was careful.
“She wants to know if Dad’s home.”
Scott’s face changed when he heard that.
“Tell her I’m here,” he said.
His voice came out rough.
“Tell her I’m coming up.”
“Not yet,” I said quietly.
He looked at me.
“We’re not done,” I said.
Claire withdrew back to the hallway.
Scott put both elbows on the table and pressed his hands over his face.
When he lowered them, his eyes were wet.
“I should have told you,” he said.
“I know I should have told you.
I’m sorry.”
“I know you are.” I looked at him steadily.
“But sorry doesn’t fix the weeks she spent managing this alone because she didn’t trust us to protect her.” I stood up.
“Derek sent that message to rattle me.
To make me turn on you instead of him.
I want you to know I see exactly what he did.”
Scott said nothing.
“But I also need you to understand that you made it easier for him.” I picked up my phone.
“Tomorrow morning, I’m calling the police.
I need to know right now — are you with me, or are you going to protect him?”
He didn’t hesitate.
“I’m with you,” he said.
“Whatever you need.”
I nodded once.
Then I went upstairs to my daughter.
Behind me, I heard Scott’s chair scrape back.
I heard him put his keys on the counter.
I heard him sit back down.
He didn’t follow me up.
He needed to sit with what he’d done.
I was going to let him.
But when I reached Audrey’s door and heard her voice on the other side, small and tired, saying, “Is Mom coming?” — I knew exactly what mattered most tonight.
I opened the door.
“I’m here,” I said.
She was.
And for now, that was where I needed to be.
What I didn’t know yet was that Derek wasn’t finished.
His next move was already in motion.
