The Children's Secret

by Nina Monroe

  Carver: He admitted to removing the gun from the safe—and to getting the ammo from the house—so he’s directly implicated.

  Barker: But there’s no evidence to suggest that he actually fired the pistol? [Looks at his notes] The firearm itself hasn’t yet been located. The investigation is still open. What makes you so sure that he’s the shooter?

  Carver: He was raised with a gun. It was his home.

  Barker: But why would he have wanted to fire the gun?

  Carver: To show off. To get attention from the other kids. Because kids like him are unpredictable.

  Barker: Kids like him?

  Carver: He has problems.

  Barker: You’ve spoken out openly against the boy’s parents. You believe they’re to blame in this?

  Carver: Yes. They brought families with small children onto their property.

  Barker: [Looks down at his notes] Lieutenant Mesenberg has gone on record to say that the children don’t remember who shot your daughter.

  Carver: Children are good at keeping secrets, Chris. Especially if they’re scared. Especially if they’re trying to protect someone.

  Barker: You think the children are trying to protect the boy whose party it was?

  Carver: That’s most likely, yes. But it could have been any of them, really. Once that gun was out of the safe—

  Barker: So let me get this straight: you believe that any one of the children at the party could have shot your daughter?

  Carver: Children who’ve experienced radicalization. Children who are raised without clear boundaries. Children who’ve witnessed gun violence. Children who don’t understand the danger of guns. There are all kinds of motivations that might have prompted one of the kids at the party to shoot my daughter. If those children had decent parents, they wouldn’t have been at the party to begin with.

  Barker: You’re making some big claims here.

  Carver: Given the right circumstances, most human beings—including children—can be driven to do just about anything. It would be foolish to rule any of them out. Which is precisely why I believe that guns should never be kept in a family home. In any home.

  Barker: [Turns back to his notes] You’re a law professor, Dr. Carver, is that right?

  Carver: I am.

  Barker: And you used to be a practicing attorney.

  Carver: [Pauses] Yes. I don’t see how this is—

  Barker: Your last case—it made quite some waves.

  Carver: You could say that.

  Barker: A multiple homicide. There were children involved. A shooting. That must have had a huge influence on your professional life. And your views on firearms.

  Carver: [Visibly shocked] I really don’t think we need to—

  Barker: It’s understandable, Dr. Carver, that you should feel strongly about guns—after what you witnessed.

  Carver: It was shocking, yes.

  Barker: That case was the reason you gave up your legal career, am I right?

  Carver: I really don’t see how this is relevant.

  Barker: I suppose it’s just interesting—in light of your current situation. And your feelings about gun control.

  Carver: My feelings about gun control have always been the same. It’s quite simple: good parents don’t have firearms in their homes. Good people don’t have firearms in their homes, period. New Hampshire has some of the most relaxed laws on gun control in the United States—and because it’s legal, people think it’s okay.

  Barker: I believe that Governor Warnes has taken a personal interest in your story.

  Carver: [Nods] She’s put gun control at the heart of her campaign for the US senate. We’re working on this together.

  Barker: [Raises his eyebrows] You’re willing to take on the NRA?

  Carver: We’re willing to take on anyone who puts our children in danger.

  Barker: So, you really believe that what happened to your daughter might move the needle on the debate?

  Carver: It has to. Like I said, every day, parents all over America are walking their children into death traps.

  Barker: Many Americans believe that owning firearms is their constitutional right.

  Carver: Well, then, the constitution is wrong.

  Barker: That’s quite a statement—especially coming from a law professor.

  Carver: It’s a big issue. Perhaps one of the biggest our country has ever had to face. [Looking straight into the camera] Chris said that I’m a law professor. He’s right, I am. But that’s not why this case matters to me. It matters to me because I’m a mom. If you’re a parent who cares about the life of your child, you need to act now. What happened to Astrid could happen to any one of your children.

  Barker: Thank you for that, Priscilla, I’m sure my viewers will take your words to heart. Before we close, I’d like us to tackle one more aspect to this story.

  Carver: Sure.

  [Images come up on the screen behind Carver: screenshots from a cell phone. The audience gasps]

  Barker: Would you mind taking a look at these images?

  Carver: Okay … [Carver twists in her chair to see the screen] What are these …?

  Barker: I believe they’re screenshots from your daughter’s phone.

  Carver: What? No, they can’t be.

  Barker: They were released early this morning—

  Carver: Released?

  Barker: I gather that someone handed your daughter’s phone to a reporter working on the case. The reporter believed it was in the public interest to release the images into the public domain. [Pause] There are links to videos in her search history—

  Carver: Who found the phone?

  Barker: We’re not at liberty to say. But the person in question thought it might broaden the debate.

  Carver: This doesn’t make sense. Astrid wouldn’t—

  Barker: There’s actually more evidence from her phone that we can’t release right now, but these images are enough to show us that your daughter’s involvement—

  Carver: My daughter’s involvement was that she got shot! My daughter’s involvement is that she’s lying in the ICU fighting for her life.

  Barker: I understand how distressing this is. But you must see how this looks. Two days before the shooting, your daughter was looking up YouTube videos on how to open gun safes. [Pause] And on how to load a firearm.

  Carver: [Stares at the screen] I don’t understand …

  Barker: So, you weren’t aware?

  Carver: These images can’t be from Astrid’s phone. [Shakes her head] They can’t be.

  Barker: They can’t be—because?

  Carver: Because she knows how I feel about firearms. She knows they’re dangerous. She understands. She’s never … [Her voice breaks off]

  Barker: We’re so grateful to you for coming on the show, Dr. Carver. This is an important issue, one that I’m sure we’ll return to.

  Carver: [Keeps staring at the images on the screen]

  Barker: Dr. Carver?

  Carver: [Slowly turns back in her chair]

  Barker: Thank you for coming in.

  Carver: [Looks down at the floor]

  Barker: [Into the camera] It’s clear that this is going to be a big talking point for those of you watching at home. The Middlebrook shooting has brought the gun control debate back to life for all of us. But we’re also being challenged to ask bigger questions. Like how we parent our children. And how much we really know about them—and what they’re doing on their phones. Thank you for tuning in.

  [Lights dim.]

  CHAPTER

  38

  7.45 a.m.

  EVA PUSHES THE mute button on the TV.

  She’d come down to find Lily watching Rise and Shine America, a program they often had on over breakfast. Except, this morning, the person filling the screen was Priscilla Carver. Eva hadn’t been able to persuade Lily to switch it off, not until the interview was over.

  Lily barely touched her cereal. She just kept staring, wide-eyed, at th
e screen as Priscilla savaged the families who were at the Wrights’ party. She may not have mentioned them by name, but it was obvious who she was talking about. And then the presenter turned on her by showing those pictures from Astrid’s phone.

  All those articles speculating about the shooter, the radio interviews, the TV reports—it was obvious now that Priscilla had been behind them. No doubt with support from Governor Warnes. And now Astrid too was being put in the spotlight.

  When Will came down and sat with them in front of the TV, Eva had thought that maybe he’d finally see that Priscilla had gone too far, but all he did was shake his head and mutter, Poor Priscilla. And then he carried on getting ready for work.

  But you saw those images—from Astrid’s phone. Eva had argued.

  He’d just shrugged. That doesn’t mean much. So, she looked up some websites. It’s not like she shot herself, is it?

  Eva and Will had always prided themselves on being on the same wavelength, but since they moved to America, she didn’t feel like she could get through to him any more.

  The TV interview had been overlaid with pictures high-lighting Priscilla’s points. Woodwind Stables covered in police tape. Ben Wright in his border patrol uniform, with a close-up of his holster and the pistol he carried when he was on duty. The wall of the mosque, covered in graffiti. The image of Phoenix, sitting in that tree, shooting a pretend gun at the sky.

  And then there was what Priscilla had implied about Bryar in the interview: that he had problems. That he was the most likely shooter.

  Eva presses her hands against her stomach. The nausea has been easing over the past week but she’s been feeling off all morning. It must be the stress of everything that’s going on right now. She picks up the glass of water in front of her and drinks slowly.

  Then she reaches across the table and places her hand over Lily’s.

  “Lily,” Eva says gently.

  Lily pulls her hand away.

  “Do you think we could talk?”

  Lily shakes her head. She gets up and stuffs her lunch box into her backpack. “I’m meeting Bryar before school.”

  “This is more important right now, my love.”

  Lily raises her eyebrows. “More important than school?”

  “Yes, more important than school.”

  Lily hitches her backpack onto her shoulders, avoiding Eva’s gaze.

  “I know you’re scared, Lily. I wish you hadn’t watched that interview with Dr. Carver—and I know you don’t want to get anyone in trouble. But I think it’s time you told me what happened on Sunday: some real facts. You must have seen something—”

  “I’ve told you everything I know, Mum.”

  Lily doesn’t look at her when she says it.

  A wave of tiredness sweeps over her. She’s pressed Lily as much as she can. She’s either telling the truth—that she really doesn’t know who shot Astrid—or there’s something she’s hiding that’s so bad that she’ll never open up. Either way, Eva feels at a loss.

  “You heard what Astrid’s mum is saying about us, my love. She’s doing a great deal of damage. Damage to your friends. To all of us. Damage that could be averted if we simply got to the truth about what happened.”

  Lily walks toward the front door. “I really have to go, Mum.”

  “Lily?”

  Lily looks round. Every day, it seems to Eva, her little girl’s skin has turned a shade paler; those circles under her eyes have deepened. This is getting to her more than she’s been letting on.

  “If you do think of something, you’ll tell me, won’t you?”

  Lily hesitates and then nods.

  “Promise?” Eva says.

  She nods again.

  And then she disappears through the front door.

  Eva looks back at the TV. The interview’s over but they’re rerunning highlights. Priscilla’s words run along the bottom of the screen: Good parents don’t have firearms in their homes. Good people don’t have firearms in their homes, period.

  She snaps off the TV and goes to lie down on the sofa, but just as she rests against the cushions, her mobile rings. It’s Yasmin. She wants to let it go to voicemail; she doesn’t have the energy to talk to anyone right now. But then she thinks about what that poor woman and her family have been going through. And God knows what she must be thinking if she saw that interview. Radicalization, wasn’t that the word Priscilla had used?

  “Hi?” Eva says.

  “Hi—it’s me, Yasmin. I think we should meet. All of us. You, me, Kaitlin, True—Avery.” Her voice is shaky. It’s not like Yasmin to initiate a social gathering.

  “You saw the interview?” Eva says.

  “Yes … but it’s not just that …”

  What else is there? Eva thinks. Priscilla’s gone on national television and attacked every child and parent who was at the party on Sunday.

  “I was tidying the twins’ room …” Yasmin says.

  “Sorry?”

  “I—I think I found something.” There’s a manic edge to Yasmin’s voice that makes Eva sit up.

  “Found what?”

  “I think we should get everyone to come over,” Yasmin says again.

  “To your house? Will Ayaan be okay with that?”

  There’s a pause on the line.

  “Ayaan’s not here,” Yasmin says.

  “Okay.”

  “Can you call round a bit? Invite people?”

  “You want me to invite the other parents to your house?”

  “Yes.”

  Naïve and reckless. Those were the words that Priscilla had used about her getting involved in the Middlebrook community.

  “They’ll listen to you,” Yasmin goes on.

  And that was the problem, wasn’t it? That people were so ready to listen to her. That’s why they’d gone to the party.

  “I don’t know, Yasmin …”

  “Please, Eva. We have to do this—for the children.”

  The determination in Yasmin’s voice sways Eva. If she’s found something that could help the kids, she’s right, they need to pull together.

  “Okay—I’ll call them.”

  Eva ends the call and lies back down on the sofa.

  A framed picture on the bookshelf catches her eye: Eva, Will, and Lily sitting in the garden of Eva’s parents’ house in Dorset. The same picture Priscilla had posted on her Justice for Astrid Facebook page. Eva remembers the day, last February, when she sent it to Priscilla: she was sitting in their home in London, exchanging messages with the American woman who would be Will’s boss—and, she’d hoped, her friend.

  Priscilla’s right. Eva doesn’t understand how this country works. And maybe she was wrong to get so involved—to persuade people to take their kids to the party. But what Priscilla’s done is far worse: she’s betrayed her neighbors and her friends—she’s vilified their children. And you don’t need to be a therapist to know where that kind of behavior comes from. Priscilla Carver said that the children were scared, that that’s why they were keeping quiet. Well, she’s scared too. That’s why she’s blaming everyone. Scared because maybe, deep down, she knows that she doesn’t have any handle on her daughter—that she might turn out to be as much to blame as any of the other kids.

  CHAPTER

  39

  8.30 a.m.

  PRISCILLA SITS IN JFK airport, looking up at the departures screen: she would pick any of those places over going home right now. Chris Barker set her up—and she fell for it. How could she have been so stupid? Like he cared about Astrid and what had happened, and then he turned it on her.

  Why the hell did Astrid look up those videos? Was it to spite her? Was it because she actually wanted to learn how to open a safe?

  Her phone vibrates again. She hasn’t taken it off silent mode since she left the studio. Peter’s been trying to get in touch but he’s the last person she wants to talk to right now.

  He warned her not to go on the show. He warned her not to rile up the media. And h
e warned her, most of fall, not to underestimate Astrid. But looking up a few videos doesn’t prove anything, does it? Kids are curious. Kids look up all kinds of shit. It doesn’t mean that they’re going to act on what they see. And didn’t Bryar confess that he opened the safes?

  Her phone vibrates again. A message this time:

  For Christ’s sake, pick up, Priscilla—I need to talk to you!

  She takes a breath, calls his number and brings the phone to her ear.

  “Thank God, Priscilla.”

  “Please don’t lecture me, Peter.”

  “I’m not—”

  “Everything you’re about to say to me right now, I’ve thought it already. You were right, is that what you want to hear? Right about all of it.”

  “Cil, none of that matters right now—”

  “‘None of that matters?’ Did you see what the show—”

  “Of course I saw—”

  “How the hell did he get hold of those pictures? Astrid’s phone was missing!”

  “Priscilla, I need you to stop talking and listen to me.”

  Priscilla goes quiet.

  “She’s woken up, Priscilla—that’s why I’ve been calling you.” His voice is shaking. “Our little girl opened her eyes.”

  Priscilla feels the world spinning around her. “What?”

  “They’re running tests but it looks like she’s going to be okay—I mean, they’re not making any promises, but Dr. Kittler say it’s looking good.”

  Tears run down Priscilla’s face. She is shaking.

  “Cil—you still there?”

  She looks back up at the departures screen—at her flight to Boston. She wants it to leave this second. She has to get back to her daughter.

  “Cil?”

  “I heard you,” she says, her voice broken through the tears.

  “Just get back here as soon as you can, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Cil?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Whatever happened today—whatever’s been going on all week—it doesn’t matter any more. Astrid’s going to be okay. That’s what ‘s important now.”

  “I know. I know.”

  There’s a pause. She thinks he might have ended the call, but she can still hear his breathing.