Chapter 6 - The Ride Home
The drive back home was remarkably peaceful.
My twelve-year-old sedan hummed along the interstate, its dashboard lights glowing a comforting, familiar amber. In the passenger seat, Chloe had kicked off her scuffed patent-leather shoes, pulled her knees up to her chest, and fallen fast asleep within ten minutes of us pulling away from Rosewood Estate, her breathing soft and even.
I kept my eyes on the dark ribbon of asphalt ahead, my mind racing through the frantic events of the evening.
Where had Chloe gotten that flash drive?
When we finally pulled into the driveway of our modest, rented two-bedroom townhouse, I turned off the engine and sat in the dark for a long moment, listening to the ticking of cooling metal under the hood.
I gently scooped Chloe into my arms, carrying her up the wooden front steps and down the dimly lit hallway to her bedroom. I peeled off her pale blue party dress, slipped her into her soft cotton dinosaur pajamas, and tucked the heavy patchwork quilt up to her chin.
As I leaned down to kiss her forehead, her eyes fluttered open.
"Mommy?" she whispered sleepily.
"I'm right here, bug," I whispered back, brushing a dark curl from her cheek. "You were very brave tonight. But... can you tell me how you got that little black drive?"
A small, mischievous smile touched the corners of Chloe's mouth.
"Grandma left her leather purse on the kitchen chair when she came over to yell at you last Tuesday," Chloe murmured, her eyelids drooping heavily. "She went to the bathroom, and the zipper was open. I saw the shiny thing inside with the little logo. I remembered you backing up your school papers to one just like it on your laptop last month... so I took it and hid it in my desk drawer."
My jaw dropped. My eight-year-old daughter had picked our mother's purse, recognized an encrypted data drive, deduced its value, and smuggled it out right under Theresa's nose.
Before I could express my utter astonishment, Chloe let out a soft sigh, turned onto her side, and drifted back into a deep, untoubled sleep.
May you like
I stood in the doorway of her bedroom for a long time, the ambient hallway light casting a warm glow across her peaceful face.
The fear and humiliation that had weighed down my chest when we first arrived at Rosewood Estate had completely vanished. In its place was something solid, unbreakable, and fiercely proud.
