The Dark Side - Danielle Steel Page 0,92

is in a stable situation. I said there are no exceptions to the one-year rule, and she was livid. And since she adheres to the rules at the shelter, she could hardly object to doing it at home. She was very unhappy about it.” She had called Austin four times while he was on the phone with Dan, so he could tell that she was pissed.

“Thanks for the warning.” He called Zoe back then and she sounded crazed.

“Can you goddamn believe it? Someone reported us to CPS because of Jaime’s hospital visits. Are they crazy? What kind of parents do they think we are? How could they do such a thing?”

“What did you tell them?” Austin asked, immediately tense.

“The truth of course, within reason. They don’t have to know everything, Austin. The same investigator is going to come and see you. Don’t tell him anything he doesn’t already know. Don’t volunteer anything.”

“Like what?” He played dumb.

“They don’t have to know about the pool in Florida, it’s in another state. And I didn’t mention the dog bite, we didn’t go to the hospital for that. We don’t want to look like child abusers, for God’s sake, or have them in and out of our house every ten minutes for the next year. This is ridiculous. And I could lose my job over it, if it winds up in the press.”

“I thought those things were confidential,” Austin said innocently.

“They’re supposed to be, but who knows. And I told him we had gates up when Jaime fell down the stairs and broke her arm.”

“We did have a gate up,” he said quietly. “You took it down.”

“Are you on my side or not?” she snapped at him. “We’re in this together, you know. If they accuse me of child abuse, they’ll accuse you too.”

“There’s nothing to accuse us of, Zoe. We’re not child abusers. And you’re the darling of the non-profit world for rescuing children. It will all calm down,” but he sounded dead as he said it. She wanted him to lie for her, and she sounded frightened to him. Of what? What else was there? What didn’t he know?

Dan had told Cathy that the orthopedic surgeon had admitted that Zoe wanted rods put in Jaime’s back, but he hadn’t told Austin. The case was growing and Austin felt better about it. There wasn’t enough yet to prove that Zoe was purposely endangering their child’s life, but there was enough to make a serious case for Munchausen by proxy, even if some of Jaime’s injuries had been mild. But it was still child abuse in the eyes of the state. She didn’t have to be paralyzed or brain dead for them to make a case. Child endangerment was a felony too. And Dan’s goal now was to protect Jaime and keep Zoe away from her in the future, and get full custody for Austin. Their marriage would be the inevitable casualty, and Austin understood that too. But he couldn’t stay married to a woman who was harming his child and might kill her one day. The Titanic was going down, it just hadn’t sunk yet.

Austin listened as Zoe continued to instruct him about what not to say. Essentially, she was telling him to lie.

“Don’t blow it!” she told him before they hung up. She had no idea that in his eyes, she already had. He had told the truth, which was dangerous for her. She couldn’t afford for anyone to be honest. Not Cathy, or him, or even Jaime, like the discrepancy in the story about the dog. He believed Jaime, and so did Dan Knoll.

Austin called Cathy after he and Zoe hung up. She could hear the minute she answered that he was depressed, and who wouldn’t be. Everything was on the line, their marriage, possibly her job, and their child’s life. What else was there? And somewhere in his heart of hearts, Austin kept hoping that they were wrong, but he knew in his head and his gut that they weren’t. Their whole life was about to go out the window. And what if they were both charged with child abuse, because he hadn’t reported her sooner? He wondered if that could happen, and hadn’t dared ask Dan. He felt cowardly now for not dealing with it earlier. He had been so blind for so long.

“Dan Knoll interviewed Zoe today,” he told Cathy.

“How did she take it?”

“Badly, of course. And she lied to him.”

“I thought she would.” She didn’t