Chapter 5 - The Price of an Address
By morning, Mom had told a nurse exactly what Dad did to her. A police photographer had taken pictures of her injuries and mine. I was supposed to feel better because grown-ups were finally doing something, but I couldn't stop staring at my hands.
I had used those hands to pull at Dad's waist. They hadn't been strong enough. Mom noticed me twisting my fingers and placed hers over them.
"You aren't supposed to win a fight with a grown man," she said. "You were supposed to get away. You did."
Nolan brought breakfast on a tray. He sat across from us and explained that Dad was in local custody on assault charges. Federal investigators were checking the money. The man with the gray gloves hadn't been located.
"Do we have to go home?" I asked.
"No," Nolan said. "Not to that house."
He talked about an emergency protective order and a safe place to stay. He didn't ask me to promise to be brave. I liked him for that.
Mom stared down at an untouched piece of toast. "Ryan said the debt was from a failed business deal. He promised he would fix it. Last week, he asked whether I still had a copy of the Alder House records. I said I didn't."
"Did you believe his story?" Nolan asked.
"I wanted to. That's not the same thing."
The words landed harder than I expected. I remembered Mom making excuses when Dad punched holes in walls or called her stupid. I also remembered the nights she sat on the edge of my bed until I fell asleep.
We left the hospital after dark in two vehicles. The nurse gave me a small paper bag with pain medicine instructions and a clean sweatshirt. I carried my school backpack on my lap. My spelling test was still inside, crumpled beneath a library book.
As we turned onto the highway, Nolan called from the front seat. "Emily, did your dad ever use your backpack?"
"He took it to school once, when I forgot it. Why?"
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Nolan turned it over. Sewn beneath the outside pocket was a black plastic disk no bigger than a quarter. A tiny light blinked beneath the fabric.
"Because," he said, "someone put a tracker in it."
