Chapter 6 - THE RABBIT
Rachel arrived crying and furious.
She didn't hug Ethan first.
She went straight to Lily.
“Oh, baby.”
Lily threw herself into her aunt's arms.
Rachel held her and looked over Lily's shoulder at Ethan.
Her face changed.
“What happened?”
Ethan couldn't answer in one sentence.
So he said the only thing that mattered.
“I didn't know.”
Rachel's eyes hardened.
“Then you're going to know everything now.”
The words hurt.
They were supposed to.
At Rachel's house, Lily fell asleep between them on the couch.
Her fingers were wrapped around a replacement stuffed rabbit Rachel had bought months ago after Vivian claimed the original had gone missing.
Ethan sat on the floor.
Rachel stood by the window.
“You trusted that woman more than your own instincts.”
“I know.”
“No, I don't think you do.”
“Rachel—”
“Lily stopped talking at dinner.”
“I noticed.”
“She stopped wanting sleepovers.”
“I noticed.”
“She cried when you said Vivian would pick her up from preschool.”
“I thought she was going through a phase.”
Rachel stared at him.
“That's what Vivian told you.”
“Yes.”
“And you believed her.”
“Yes.”
The word came out like a confession.
Rachel sat down.
For a long time, neither spoke.
Then she said, “What happens now?”
“Police collect evidence. CPS interviews us. Vivian will probably get a lawyer.”
“She better get a priest.”
“Rachel.”
“What? I'm trying very hard not to drive to your house and drag that chain across her car.”
Despite himself, Ethan let out a broken laugh.
Then Lily stirred.
“Daddy?”
“Right here.”
“Bunny.”
“What about Bunny?”
“My old bunny talks.”
Rachel frowned.
“What does that mean, baby?”
Lily sat up, sleepy.
“Vivian told me Bunny listens.”
Ethan and Rachel exchanged a look.
“Where is old Bunny?” Ethan asked.
“At home.”
He pictured the stuffed rabbit downstairs.
The cut ear.
The one placed halfway up the steps.
Why put it there?
Unless Vivian had been trying to destroy something.
Ethan called Officer Ramirez.
Twenty minutes later, Ramirez called back.
“We found something.”
Ethan stood.
“What?”
“There was a small digital recorder sewn inside the rabbit.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
Ethan felt his pulse climb.
“Was it recording?”
“Not currently.”
“Is there anything on it?”
“We're checking.”
An hour passed.
Then another.
At 1:14 a.m., Ethan's phone rang.
Ramirez.
Ethan answered immediately.
“Tell me.”
The officer's voice was different.
Tighter.
“There are dozens of audio files.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“What do they say?”
“Some are household noise. Some are conversations.”
“Between Vivian and Lily?”
“Yes.”
Ethan gripped the phone.
“And?”
A pause.
“Mr. Walker, we found a recording from eleven days ago.”
“What happened eleven days ago?”
“You were in Chicago.”
Ethan remembered.
Three-night conference.
He had called Lily every night.
Vivian always said Lily was tired.
Ramirez continued.
“On the recording, Ms. Grant is instructing Lily to tell a doctor that you grabbed her arm.”
Ethan's throat closed.
“Oh my God.”
“There is more.”
“What?”
“She rehearses the story with her.”
Ethan sat down slowly.
“And there's something else.”
“What?”
“Another adult enters the room.”
Ethan went still.
“Who?”
“We don't know.”
“You can hear them?”
“Clearly.”
“What do they say?”
Ramirez paused.
Then answered.
The stranger had said:
May you like
“Vivian, you told me you were only trying to get rid of the kid.”
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