Chapter 11 - MAISIE’S DRAWING
Dr. Iris Chen refused to take sides.
Naomi liked her immediately.
“I’m not here to decide which adult is better,” Iris explained.
“I’m here to understand what Maisie is experiencing.”
Court-appointed.
Forty-two.
Child psychologist.
No visible reaction to either parent’s accusations.
Exactly what Vanessa hated.
After three sessions, Iris called both parents separately.
When Naomi arrived, a sheet of paper lay face-down on the desk.
Iris said,
“Children often communicate through play before language.”
Naomi nodded.
“She drew something?”
Iris turned over the page.
Three women.
One man.
One small girl.
A house.
And a blue rectangle.
Naomi’s heart jumped.
“What’s that?”
“I asked her.”
“And?”
“She called it the Mommy Phone.”
Naomi gripped the chair.
Iris continued.
“I asked what the Mommy Phone does.”
Naomi barely breathed.
“She said it makes Mommy say things when Mommy isn’t there.”
The room went silent.
“Did you tell Graham?”
“He’ll receive the same information.”
Naomi closed her eyes.
“Thank God.”
“Not yet.”
Naomi looked up.
Iris’s tone remained calm.
“This is significant. It is not proof of who operated the device.”
“Maisie said Vanessa has it.”
“Yes.”
“But?”
“But my job is not to build your legal case.”
Naomi nodded slowly.
“What else did she say?”
Iris looked at another page.
“She described practicing statements.”
Naomi’s throat tightened.
“What statements?”
“That you were busy. That you forgot pickups. That you drank ‘bad juice.’”
Naomi looked away.
“And she repeatedly asked me whether her answers were good.”
“Exactly what she did with CPS.”
“I reviewed that report.”
Iris leaned forward.
“The repetition concerns me.”
“Coaching?”
“Possibly.”
Naomi waited.
Iris added,
“Maisie also seems frightened of disappointing Vanessa.”
That hurt worse than anything.
“Can the court stop her from being around Maisie?”
“That is not my decision.”
“Can you recommend it?”
“I can recommend changes if I believe the child’s emotional welfare is at risk.”
Naomi nodded.
“Do you?”
Iris did not answer directly.
Instead she turned over a second drawing.
A black square.
A little girl inside.
Purple stars surrounding it.
Naomi’s vision blurred.
“The wedding room?”
“I didn’t suggest any location.”
“What did she call it?”
Iris looked at her.
“The pretty room.”
Naomi frowned.
“Pretty?”
“Maisie said Vanessa told her she had to stay inside because the wedding had to stay pretty.”
Naomi covered her mouth.
Then Iris pointed to something in the corner.
Tiny numbers written in purple crayon.
Naomi stared.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Iris paused.
“She said it’s where Vanessa puts secrets.”
That night Naomi called Lydia.
“Two-one-four.”
“Could be anything.”
“Apartment. Locker. Password.”
“Don’t go hunting.”
“Lydia.”
“I mean it.”
“What if it’s a storage unit?”
“Then we find a lawful way to determine that.”
Naomi paced her kitchen.
“What five-year-old memorizes 214?”
“One who saw it repeatedly.”
Naomi stopped.
The wedding footage flashed through her mind.
Vanessa.
Blue phone.
Service corridor.
Maisie observing everything.
Adults had underestimated her from the beginning.
Because she was small.
Because her sentences were simple.
Because she colored outside the lines.
But Maisie noticed patterns.
Numbers.
Colors.
Words.
She had been trapped inside Vanessa’s plan long enough to memorize its architecture.
Naomi looked again at the photograph Iris had provided.
Purple stars.
Black square.
Then she noticed something she had missed.
Beside the numbers, Maisie had drawn three curved lines.
Like waves.
Or hills.
Naomi stared.
She had seen that shape before.
On a logo.
A storage company off Route 7.
Three blue hills above the words:
TRI-RIDGE STORAGE
Naomi pulled up the company website.
Unit numbers in Building C began with 200.
She immediately called Lydia.
“I think I know what 214 is.”
Lydia groaned.
“Do not go there.”
“I’m not.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
Naomi looked at the website.
Then at the business owner’s name.
Her breath stopped.
Tri-Ridge Storage belonged to a Mercer subsidiary.
Which meant Graham could legally access rental records if company policy allowed it.
May you like
And for the first time, Naomi realized Vanessa might have hidden her secrets in a place she believed Naomi could never reach.
But Graham could.
