“The jury—”
“The jury,” he said with contempt. “They couldn’t see past my life. Every newspaper and TV station called me guilty within five minutes. No one even looked for Zo and Brit. Two eyewitnesses saw a strange van on my street the day my family went missing—and no one cared. The police didn’t even bother to search for a white guy in a yellow slicker and Batman baseball cap who drove a grayish Chevy van. When I offered money for information, they compared me to O.J. For the last month I’ve been waiting every day for the DNA analysis that would give my daughter back to me. I had to get a court order to compare her DNA to the blood found at the scene. And when I get it, I race up here … only to find that your sister is going to fight me for custody.”
Rosie showed up at the table. “Here’s your coffee and muffin, Ellie. I put ’em on your tab.” She grinned. “Along with a healthy tip.”
When Rosie left, Azelle leaned across the table. “Do you believe me?”
She heard a crack in his voice, an uncertainty that bothered her. “You want me to see an innocent man,” she said slowly, watching him.
“I am innocent. It’ll be easier on all of us if you believe that.”
“It would certainly be easier on you.”
“How is she? Can you at least tell me that? Does she still suck her thumb? Does she—”
Ellie stood up quickly, needing distance between them. She didn’t want to hear what he knew about their girl. “Alice needs Julia. Can you understand that?”
“There is no Alice,” he said.
Ellie walked away, not daring to look back. She was almost to the door when she heard him call out to her:
“You tell your sister I’m coming, Chief Barton. I won’t lose my daughter twice.”
The next forty-eight hours unfolded in a kind of faded slow motion. The snow stopped falling. In its wake, the world was sparkling and white. Julia spent every hour working. During the day, she was with Alice, teaching her new words, taking her outside to make snow angels in the backyard. Several times during the day Alice asked about her wolf and pointed to the car. Julia gently turned her attention back to whatever they were doing. If Alice wondered why she kept kissing her cheek or holding her hand, she showed no sign of it.
But it was the nighttime hours that mattered most right now. She and Ellie and Peanut and Cal and the private detective worked all night long, poring through police reports and newspaper accounts and archived videotape. After a long shift at the hospital, Max showed up to help. They read or watched everything they could find on George Azelle. By Monday morning, when the meetings were over, they knew every fact of his life.
And none of it would help them.
“Read Girl?”
Julia drew her thoughts back in and glanced at the clock. It was nearly two o’clock. “No reading now,” she said softly. “Cal is bringing Sarah over to play with you. Do you remember Sarah?”
Alice frowned. “Jewlee stay?”
Such an ordinary question. “Not right now, honey. I’ll be back, though.”
Alice smiled at that. “Jewlee back.”
Julia dropped to her knees. Before she could figure out what exactly to say, the front door opened. Ellie, Cal, and Sarah walked into the house.
No one bothered to say anything.
Sarah showed Alice a pair of Barbie dolls.
Alice didn’t respond, but she couldn’t look away from the dolls. After a few moments the girls wandered into the living room, where they played separately side by side. Alice still didn’t know how to interact with other children, but Sarah didn’t seem to mind.
Ellie touched Julia’s arm. “You ready?”
Julia forced a smile and reached down for her briefcase. On the way out she stopped to talk to Cal. She meant to say, When Alice feels comfortable, she’ll talk to Sarah, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out.
“Good luck,” he said softly, squeezing her arm for comfort.
Nodding, she followed Ellie out to the cruiser.
In a silence broken only by the thump-thump of the windshield wipers, they drove to the county courthouse. It was a tall, gray-stone building set on a hill above the harbor. The wild blue Pacific made a stunning backdrop; today, the gray sky blurred the horizon, made everything appear watery and indistinct.
Family Court was on the main floor, at the very end of a hallway. Of all the courts Julia had once frequented, Family was her least favorite. Here, hearts were broken every day.
Julia paused, straightening her navy suit, then she opened the door and went inside. Her high heels clicked on the marble floor. Ellie matched her step for step, looking ultraconfident in her gold-starred uniform. They passed Max and Peanut, who were seated together in the back row of the gallery.