Chapter 6 - The Broken Loop
The officers stop moving.
Their eyes lock onto the glowing screen, the blue light reflecting in their irises.
Ryan turns his head toward the wall.
His jaw unhinges, his mouth falling open in a silent, suffocating gap.
Claire looks down at her own left hand.
She grips the thick gold band circling her ring finger.
She slides it over her knuckle, scraping the skin.
She drops it.
It hits the granite island with a sharp, hollow clink, rolling in a slow, dying circle before falling flat.
A drop of water falls from Ryan’s right eye, splashing darkly onto his light blue collar.
"Claire, please."
His voice is a high, desperate vibration.
From the hallway threshold, a small shadow shifts.
Leo, their six-year-old son, stands barefoot on the cold stone.
He holds a plastic tower of interlocking building blocks.
The bottom row of blocks is completely crushed and splintered.
"Daddy."
The child’s voice is remarkably steady, echoing in the vast, tense room.
"When someone keeps kicking your tower down..."
Leo drops the broken plastic blocks onto the floor.
They shatter into smaller, jagged pieces.
"...you don't build it with them anymore."
He turns around and walks back into the dark hallway, his bare feet padding softly against the wood.
Claire steps over the metal pole.
May you like
She does not look at the gold ring.
"Explain it in court."
