Twelve long years of radio silence.
Radio silence. The phrase circled her brain like a relentless lyric she couldn’t get out of her head. Mustering all her will and all her reason, she slipped out of his grasp and rose from the couch. By the time she took a stumble-step backward, he was on his feet, coming after her.
“Don’t go, Anna,” he nearly growled.
“I’ll see you around, Charlie. Welcome home.”
He blinked rapidly and dragged a hand through his tousled hair. “How can you leave like this—after what just happened between us?”
Reaching for her purse she said, “I’m sorry. I’ll admit I got caught up in the moment, but nothing happened between us except a kiss.”
On top of her words, her phone rang, aiding her, jarring her back to planet earth. Charlie watched her with a we’re-not-done-here look on his face while she dug her phone out and put it to her ear.
“Are you with Drex?” She heard Nate’s voice on the other end of the phone.
“Yes, but—”
“He left his phone over here.”
Concentrating on Nate’s words, she cleared her throat and tried to sound composed. “I’ll tell him.”
“Put Drex on.” Nate’s voice didn’t sound composed at all. “There’s something wrong with the baby.”
Monday Morning
“WHAT ABOUT THESE BRUISES here on his bottom, when did you first notice them?” Charlie swept his hand above Bobby’s buttocks indicating several yellow-green marks, and a tense silence stretched the air taut, making the small exam room seem even more confining.
Simone shifted her weight from one foot to the other, flicked her gaze along the row of friendly dinosaurs bordering the ceiling, brushed a hank of red hair off her forehead, and then looked back at the dinosaurs. “Just now, when you pointed them out.”
Her answer surprised him…and the bruises concerned him. When Nate had telephoned Saturday night, Charlie had reassured him that the bruises he described—small ones on Bobby’s shins—sounded normal. He’d explained that it’s common for children, especially ones who crawl and toddle, to develop contusions over bony prominences.
The bruises he was looking at now, however, weren’t so normal. Unlike the knees and shins, a baby’s buttocks have plenty of padding, so bruising there raised a red flag. “What about you, Nate?” he asked.
His lifelong friend cupped his hand in his chin, and his brow drew down. “I haven’t seen them before now either. I don’t do much diaper changing.” Nate turned to Simone and opened his hands wide. “That’s an area where I need to help you out more, but I promise to do better in the future.”
Charlie frowned at Simone. “You’re at home with Bobby, right? No one else takes care of him. You don’t have a nanny? He doesn’t go to daycare?”
“I wouldn’t trust a nanny.” Her voice faltered, and her eyes misted up. Moving Charlie out of her way with a gentle shove, she set about fastening Bobby’s diaper.
Simone Carlisle was the last person Charlie would ever suspect of intentionally hurting her baby, and there were plenty of other etiologies on his differential. He hated the idea of even entertaining the idea of abuse. Still, as a pediatrician, he’d seen too many things he hadn’t wished to believe possible. So right now, he really needed a straight answer from Simone. “And yet you never noticed these bruises when you were changing Bobby’s diaper?”
“If they’d been there, of course I would have noticed them. But you’re not listening, Drex. They’re new. I’m the only one changing the diapers, and if those spots were there, I would have seen them. That’s not why we’re here. We brought Bobby in today because Nate noticed these black spots on Bobby’s little legs Saturday night, and we got scared.”
“But you made this appointment on Friday. If there were no bruises until Saturday, why did you call Friday to set up today’s appointment?”
Simone finished snapping Bobby’s onesie and lifted him into her arms. Drawing him close to her chest, she dropped her gaze and kept silent.
Nate crossed to his wife and child. “Babe, why didn’t you tell me that you already had an appointment set up for this morning? I wouldn’t have called Drex at home late like that.”
“I—I don’t know. I thought you wanted to tell Drex about leaving his phone at the house anyway, so I didn’t think to mention it.”
Charlie put his hand on Simone’s shoulder. A tremor ran through her. Keeping his voice steady, he said, “Here’s the problem I’m having right now. The bruises on Bobby’s bottom are yellow and that means they’re several days old. The bruises on his shins are newer—I know because they’re still dark brown and black.”