Chapter 1 - YOU’RE EARLY
Daniel Carter had imagined coming home a hundred different ways.
None of them included his mother hitting his wife.
He came through the front door in uniform with a brown military duffel over one shoulder, still carrying airport air in his clothes and the dull exhaustion of twenty-one hours in transit.
The foyer looked exactly as he remembered it.
Polished floors.
Wide staircase.
The enormous mirror Rachel had hated when they bought the house because, according to her, “Nobody needs to see themselves from three rooms at once.”
Then he heard glass moving across tile.
Daniel looked toward the open kitchen.
Rachel was kneeling beside the island.
For one second, he did not understand what he was seeing.
Her hair was gone.
Not cut short.
Shaved close along the left side and across most of her scalp.
A white bandage wrapped one hand.
There was bruising near her temple.
Broken glass surrounded her knees.
Vanessa stood over her.
Rachel began raising her head.
Vanessa slapped her.
Hard.
Rachel rocked sideways.
Before she could recover, Vanessa shoved her back toward the floor.
Rachel caught herself beside the broken glass with her bandaged hand.
Vanessa snapped:
“Clean it before he sees you.”
Daniel dropped the duffel.
It hit the foyer floor hard enough to make both women turn.
Rachel stared.
Vanessa froze.
“Daniel.”
He was already moving.
He crossed the foyer and knocked his mother aside with one forearm, then dropped beside Rachel.
“Don't move.”
Vanessa grabbed his shoulder.
“Listen to me.”
Daniel tore free.
“Don't touch me.”
“She dropped—”
Daniel shoved Vanessa backward.
She hit the edge of the kitchen island and caught herself against the counter.
Daniel turned back to Rachel.
Her face frightened him.
Not because of the bruises.
Because she was looking at him like he was the thing that didn't make sense.
“Rachel?”
She reached toward his face.
Stopped halfway.
“You came home last night.”
Daniel went completely still.
“What?”
“You came home.”
Her voice weakened.
“Last night.”
Daniel stared at her.
“I landed an hour ago.”
The color disappeared from Rachel's face.
Vanessa moved suddenly.
She lunged across the kitchen and grabbed Rachel by the arm.
“Enough.”
Rachel cried out.
Vanessa yanked her upright.
Daniel caught his mother's wrist and ripped her hand away.
“Stop touching her.”
Vanessa tried pulling free.
Daniel released her only after Rachel was safely beside him.
Rachel swayed.
Daniel caught her.
“What happened to your head?”
Rachel did not answer.
She was staring past him.
Upstairs.
Then she raised her good hand.
Pointed.
Daniel followed it.
At the end of the upper landing sat a second brown military duffel.
Same general issue style.
Same heavy canvas.
Same rectangular shape.
Daniel looked down toward the foyer.
His own duffel was still where he had dropped it beside the door.
Then he looked upstairs again.
Vanessa stepped directly into his line of sight.
“Daniel, she's been confused since the hospital.”
He stared at his mother.
“What hospital?”
Vanessa stopped.
Rachel made a tiny sound beside him.
Daniel stepped around Vanessa.
He started toward the staircase.
His mother panicked.
She grabbed the back of his uniform and yanked him hard.
Daniel spun.
Tore himself free.
“Get off me.”
Vanessa came at him again.
He shoved her away.
She fell backward into a chair beside the island.
Daniel turned toward the stairs.
Rachel grabbed his arm with both hands.
Her grip was weak.
Desperate.
“Don't.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Who's upstairs?”
Rachel could not answer.
Her eyes were fixed on the large mirror facing the staircase.
Daniel followed her gaze.
Movement.
In the reflection—
a man crossed the upstairs hallway.
Army uniform.
Same camouflage pattern Daniel was wearing.
Seen only from the side and partly from behind.
Face impossible to make out.
He passed beyond the reflected doorway.
Daniel stopped breathing.
Rachel tightened her hands around his arm.
Vanessa stayed rigid in the chair.
She did not even turn to look.
Then the man's voice came from upstairs.
Calm.
May you like
Surprised.
“You’re early.”
