Chapter 4 - RYAN’S FIRST CHOICE
Ryan did not believe Noah immediately.
That was the first choice he would later regret.
He asked whether Daniel told him to defend him.
Noah shook his head.
Victoria sat on the sofa and covered her face.
“He is protecting his grandfather.”
Ryan looked toward the broken photograph.
Noah and Daniel had always been close.
Daniel helped with school projects.
Attended soccer games.
Taught Noah chess.
Victoria had mentioned the closeness before.
She said Daniel encouraged Noah to challenge her authority.
Ryan once dismissed the concern.
Now it sounded possible.
The police separated everyone.
Noah spoke to an officer in the dining room.
Victoria spoke in the living room.
Daniel waited near the entrance.
Ryan moved between rooms.
Each version required him to choose what kind of family he believed he had.
In the dining room, Noah described Victoria preparing the scene.
She removed one heel so she could push against the wooden door more easily.
She tore her sleeve on a metal edge.
She struck her cheek.
Then she waited for Ryan.
“Why were you watching?” the officer asked.
“Mom told me to stay in my room.”
“Was the door open?”
“A little.”
“Did she know?”
“No.”
“Did your grandfather touch her?”
“He tried to stop her from breaking the picture.”
The officer wrote everything down.
In the living room, Victoria described Daniel as increasingly unstable.
He forgot where he placed documents.
He accused staff of stealing.
He called Noah by Ryan’s childhood nickname.
Ryan had witnessed some mistakes.
Small ones.
But Victoria arranged them into a pattern.
“He needs help,” she whispered.
Ryan sat beside her.
“And Noah?”
“He is frightened of losing his grandfather.”
“What if he is telling the truth?”
Victoria looked at him.
The tears returned.
“You saw me.”
Ryan remembered entering.
Victoria crying.
Daniel standing several feet away.
He had not seen an attack.
He had seen its apparent aftermath.
That distinction should have mattered.
Instead, he answered:
“I believe you.”
Victoria rested her head against his shoulder.
Over it, she looked toward the dining-room doorway.
Noah stood there.
He had heard.
His face changed.
The police did not arrest Daniel.
There was no immediate physical evidence proving an assault.
But Ryan asked him to leave.
Daniel picked up the broken family photograph.
Victoria stopped him.
“That belongs here.”
Daniel looked at the cracked image.
“No.”
He held it against his chest.
“It belongs with the part of this family that still remembers what happened.”
Then he walked out.
Noah watched through the window.
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Ryan did not follow his father.
He did not follow his son either.
