Chapter 6

When the board reconvened at seven thirty-five, the gym had filled again. More parents had come. A reporter from the county paper stood by the door with a notebook. The fluorescent lights buzzed like insects.

Lyle testified first. He wore the same calm face. He told the board he had been worried about Sadie since the divorce. He said she had behavioral issues. He said Jonah had a history of violence. He said the whistle was a toy Sadie had taken from his coat, and that Jonah had manipulated her into a performance.

“She’s a suggestible child,” Lyle said. “She wants her father’s approval. He used that.”

Harris asked him about the missing whistle.

“I reported it,” Lyle said. “I assumed I lost it. Then she pulled it out of her pocket. You can see how that looks.”

“Why would she have it?”

Lyle spread his hands. “You’d have to ask Mr. Mercer.”

I gripped the edge of the table. Rhonda wrote a note: STAY CALM.

Then they called Corinne.

She walked to the microphone like a woman walking into cold water. She did not look at me. She looked at Lyle. He gave her a small nod.

“Mrs. Vance,” Harris said, “did your daughter ever tell you Mr. Vance locked her in a closet?”

Corinne’s hand trembled around the paper. “No.”

“Did she ever seem afraid of Mr. Vance?”

“No.”

“Did she tell you the whistle meant anything?”

“No.”

The room exhaled. I felt something inside me go quiet and dead. She was doing exactly what I had feared. She was choosing him.

“Did Mr. Mercer coach her?” Harris asked.

Corinne’s eyes flicked to me. Just once. Then back to Lyle.

“I think he wanted her to say something,” she whispered. “I think he used her.”

Sadie started rocking in the second row. Back and forth, back and forth, her hands pressed over her ears. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Then she was off the chair and running.

“Sadie!” Corinne dropped the paper and went after her.

Lyle stayed seated. He looked at the board with a sad, patient expression, like a man watching a storm he had not caused.

I stood up. Officer Dunne stepped forward.

“Sit down, Mr. Mercer.”

“My daughter-”

“She’s with her mother.”

I sat. My hands were shaking. I put them flat on the table. HOLD FAST. HOLD FAST.

Lyle caught my eye across the room. He smiled.