Daddy's Little Girl, Too

Chapter 10: Nothing Remains

Emma refrains from speaking for the remainder of the ride home. She sits in her booster seat, staring at the seat in front of her.

Michael drives carefully as more police cars zoom past, toward the crime scene. Michael sighs; thinking about the disturbing things Emma has been doing and saying. Five year olds shouldn't be thinking about death, much less, speaking about it.

Michael pulls the car into the driveway and stops. He places the car in park but does not turn the engine off. "Go on inside, and get ready for bed."

Emma silently obeys her father. Michael watches her as she walks across the yard to the front door. He sighs again, not sure if he should tell Nancy about Emma's most recent behavior.

After a few minutes, Michael turns the car off and grabs the dessert off of the passenger seat. Once inside, he places the chocolate cake in the refrigerator and joins Nancy on the couch.

Again he sighs, and Nancy immediately asks, "What's wrong?"

Michael lies, "Nothing. I'm just tired."

Nancy places her hand on his knee, and rubs softly. She knows there is something more bothering Michael, but she doesn't persist. "Me too."

Emma enters the living room. "Daddy? Can you read to me tonight?"

As much as Michael would like to deny his daughter's request, he agrees. "Sure sweetie."

***

Once Emma has fallen asleep, Michael returns to his wife. He sits beside her and drapes his arm over her shoulder. Nancy gently rests her weary head on Michael. "Is she asleep?"

"Yeah. She passed right out."

"Good. She needs the rest."

Michael agrees, "Yeah. Hopefully she doesn't have any dreams tonight...then maybe we can get some rest too."

Nancy smiles to Michael. "Let's hope."

The exhausted couple watches TV for a while and snuggles together. As much as they have been arguing in recent days, they still enjoy one another's touch; they need it.

Nancy tries to revive the conversation from earlier. "While you and Emma were at the store, I called the Landell's. I talked to Janette for a while."

Michael is slightly more receptive to the discussion this time around. "Yeah? How've they been?"

"They're good. They have two kids. You remember Kara, she's seven now and they have a little boy named Christopher, he's three."

"That's nice, what about David?"

"He's doing good, he still works for the Sanitation Department."

Michael tries to joke, "What a shitty job." He chuckles at his pun.

Nancy cracks a smile. "They want to have another child, but Janette is having issues conceiving. They've enrolled for adoption, now they're just waiting."

"Well that's good. I hope they don't have to wait as long as we did."

It's nearly eleven o'clock, and a preview of the upcoming news catches Michael's interest.

'Another body found. It's the second one this week. Could we have a serial killer on the loose in North Point? Details at eleven.'

Michael can't help but assume this is regarding the crime scene behind the shopping center. He wonders if there was a body in that dumpster after all. Michael was planning on heading to bed, but now he has to stay up to watch the news broadcast.