Chapter 6 - What Scout Remembered
Scout came home on Tuesday wearing a blue veterinary bandage around one front paw.
The bandage made him look deeply offended.
Piper laughed for the first time since the pool.
"Scout has a sock!"
Caleb smiled.
"An expensive sock."
"Can I sign it?"
"You can draw him a picture instead."
Piper considered that.
"Can I draw a bone?"
"Pretty sure he'd approve."
Scout wagged his tail.
He had suffered exhaustion, swallowed some pool water, and scraped his paw while scrambling near the stone steps, but his examination and follow-up tests were reassuring.
The veterinarian had discharged him with instructions for rest and monitoring.
Caleb brought him to the hospital only after arranging a short visit in an approved family area.
When Piper saw him, she climbed carefully from her chair.
Scout immediately pressed his head against her knees.
"Hi, baby," she whispered.
The dog looked up at her.
Piper wrapped her arms around his neck.
Caleb turned away.
He couldn't watch without remembering those two small hands gripping Scout's flotation harness in the dark.
Dr. Leah Morgan, the pediatric psychologist consulted by the hospital, met Caleb later that day.
"Piper's doing well medically," she said. "But something frightening happened. We should expect some fear and changes in behavior."
"She won't let go of my shirt."
"That makes sense."
"She asked if the pool can come into her bedroom."
Leah smiled gently.
"Children sometimes try to understand danger by imagining it in places they already know."
Caleb rubbed his eyes.
"I don't know what to tell her."
"Start with what's true. She's safe now. You're making sure someone trustworthy is with her. She doesn't have to swim again until she's ready."
"And my mother?"
Leah's expression became more serious.
"I understand the police are investigating. Until the safety concerns are resolved, I'd advise against unsupervised contact."
"She's already asking where Nana is."
"What have you said?"
"That Nana isn't visiting right now."
"That's enough for the moment. You don't need to supply adult explanations she hasn't asked for."
Caleb looked down.
"I keep wanting her to tell me exactly what happened."
"That's understandable. But please leave investigative questions to the trained child interviewer. Your daughter needs to know she can talk about her feelings without being responsible for proving anything."
Caleb nodded.
He had spent his entire career solving problems.
Designing supports.
Calculating loads.
Inspecting failures.
Now he was learning that his daughter wasn't something he could repair with a checklist.
Meanwhile, Detective Alvarez visited the veterinary clinic.
Dr. Evan Price, Scout's veterinarian, had treated dogs for nearly twenty years.
He examined the photographs of the vest.
"Could Scout have damaged this?" Sofia asked.
"He could damage inflatable plastic. Any large dog could."
"Does this look like the way a dog usually punctures something?"
Evan leaned closer.
"Not from what I'm seeing. I'd expect paired marks, tearing, deformation, or some pattern from the teeth. These look much more like isolated point punctures."
"Would you put that in writing?"
"I can document my observations. For the material analysis, I'd defer to your engineer."
Sofia nodded.
"Fair."
Evan studied the photograph of Scout wearing his flotation harness.
"That's a decent harness."
"Why?"
"Buoyant material along the sides, secure straps, reinforced lifting handles. It's designed to keep a dog's head up and help someone support or recover the animal from water."
"Could a child hold those handles?"
"Physically, yes. But the dog still has limits. Swimming while a frightened child holds on can exhaust him. Piper was very lucky."
Sofia looked at him.
"How lucky?"
Evan folded his arms.
"Enough that I wouldn't ask the question twice."
When Piper returned home on Wednesday, Caleb didn't take her to the mansion.
He took her to a small rental cottage on the other side of Annapolis.
It had a blue front door, a little garden, and no swimming pool.
His late wife's sister, June Keene, was waiting inside.
June was forty-six, wore reading glasses on a chain, and had an unfortunate habit of buying gifts whenever she felt nervous.
Today, she'd bought three stuffed animals, two coloring books, and a cake.
Caleb stared at the kitchen table.
"June."
"What?"
"Are we opening a toy store?"
"I panicked."
Piper rushed toward her.
"Aunt June!"
June crouched and caught her in a hug.
"Oh, sweetheart. Come here."
Piper buried her face against June's shoulder.
Scout entered behind them, sniffed the cake, and sat down with an expression of shameless hope.
June looked at him.
"No."
Scout tilted his head.
"Absolutely not."
His tail thumped.
Piper giggled.
The sound nearly broke Caleb.
For the first time in four days, his daughter looked like herself.
That evening, after Piper fell asleep with Scout curled beside her bed, June found Caleb sitting on the back steps.
He held a glass of water he hadn't touched.
"She's out," June said.
"Good."
"Scout's snoring loud enough to wake the neighbors."
Caleb smiled faintly.
Then the smile disappeared.
June sat beside him.
"What's going on?"
He hesitated.
"Mom might have done it on purpose."
June didn't speak immediately.
Caleb told her about the punctures and the trust provision.
When he finished, June stared at the dark garden.
"Jesus, Caleb."
"I keep hoping there's some explanation I haven't thought of."
"Maybe there is."
He looked at her.
"But?"
"But hoping isn't the same as trusting her."
Caleb lowered his head.
June placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Mara used to tell me something about Lenora."
Caleb turned.
"What?"
"She said your mother didn't just want to win arguments."
June paused.
"She wanted to decide which version of the truth everybody else was allowed to remember."
May you like
Caleb stared at her.
Then June said, "There's something else Mara left with me. Something she didn't want kept at the mansion."
