The Perfect Child(69)

Hannah met me at the door the next day when I came home. She started screaming immediately. “Tell her to give it to me!” Her eyes were wild. Her hand shook as she pointed to the hallway leading to the bedrooms. “She’s in there. Tell her to give it to me.”

I set my stuff on the end table next to the couch. “Whoa, calm down. What are you talking about?”

“My phone. She took my phone and hid it somewhere. She won’t give it back.” Her voice trembled with anger.

“Your phone? Why would she take your phone? Are you sure you didn’t just misplace it somewhere?” I eyed the room, expecting to spot it.

“She took it! You said I needed to take care of her, so I did. She wouldn’t go to the bathroom today when I asked her to or brush her teeth, so I told her she couldn’t watch any cartoons until she’d done what I asked. You know what she did? She looked right at me and took her pants off. She walked over to the rug in the dining room and peed on it. Then she laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world.”

I’d never seen her so unhinged. “That’s not okay, but what does that have to do with your phone?”

“Oh, the phone? The phone happened when I took away her Barbie dolls. Ask me why I took away her Barbie dolls. Ask me.” She moved in front of me, smashing Cole between us like a sandwich.

“Why did you take her Barbie dolls away?”

“I set Cole down. Just for a second. That’s why I never set him down. Never. You want to know why I carry him around all the time. That’s why. That’s why.”

I put my hands on her shoulders and moved her back from me. “Hannah, please calm down. You’re not making any sense. None of this makes sense. Why don’t we sit down just for a second?”

She jerked away. “I don’t want to sit down. I want you to make her give me my phone.”

Janie stood in the doorway of her bedroom, watching everything play out with a blank expression on her face.

“Janie, did you take Mommy’s phone?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“Yes, you did! You took it!” Hannah screamed.

“I did not! You’re a mean mommy!” Janie yelled back.

Cole started to wail.

“Now look what you’ve done!” Hannah said, red faced and furious.

“Everybody, calm down. Just calm down.” I motioned to the couch. “Sit down while I get him a bottle.”

I walked into the kitchen and took some deep breaths while the water heated up. The beginnings of a headache throbbed behind my temples. I didn’t care what Hannah said anymore. I couldn’t live like this. None of us could. Dan had given me the number of the woman they had used when their girls were young, and I was calling her tonight as soon as I got a chance. Enough was enough.

“I’m going to call your phone,” I said.

“I already did with the house phone. It must be dead because I didn’t charge it last night,” she responded from the living room.

Her phone immediately went to voice mail. I pulled up the Find My iPhone app just in case she’d gone out and left it somewhere. The pin showed it was in the house. I shook the bottle on my way back into the living room, bracing myself for a fight. I handed the bottle to Hannah, and she stuck it in Cole’s mouth. He settled on the bottle and stopped crying.

“Okay, let’s see if we can get to the bottom of this. Janie, can you come out here?” I asked.

She walked out of her bedroom, hanging her head. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I don’t know why Mommy is so mad. I tried to get her to calm down.”

Hannah glared at her.

“I’m going to ask you again, and I want you to tell me the truth. Did you take Mommy’s phone?” I asked.

“I didn’t,” she said adamantly.

“Yes, you did,” Hannah said through gritted teeth. “You told me you took it.”

“She told you?” I asked.

“Yes. I took away her Barbies. Then later on this afternoon, I needed my phone and couldn’t find it anywhere. When I asked her about it, she said, ‘Give me my Barbies, and I’ll give you the phone.’”

Janie crossed her arms on her chest. “Did not.”

Hannah looked like she was one second away from screaming again.

I put my hand on Hannah’s shoulder, trying to calm her. “How about this? Why don’t we all look for the phone just to make sure?”

Hannah glared at me, but she got up and went into our bedroom. I took all the cushions off the couch and searched underneath the furniture. It wasn’t in the living room. I checked on the toilet paper stand in the bathroom because she’d misplaced it there before, but it was empty. Janie scurried through the house, and every few minutes she called out, “It’s not here, Daddy.”

I emptied out everything in Hannah’s purse even though I was sure it was the first place she’d looked. It wasn’t there either. Finally, I moved into Janie’s room.

Her room was a mess—a sharp contrast to the rest of our put-together house. Her toys were everywhere. The bed was rumpled and unmade. Her books were strewn across the room. Broken crayons were ground into the floor. I picked up the chunks as best I could and threw them in the trash. I picked up a few toys and tossed them into the plastic toy containers. Her stuffed animals were scattered around the room, and I scooped them into a pile. I straightened out the covers at the end of her bed, and Hannah’s phone rolled out onto the floor when I tugged on one of the blankets.