The Toilet Knew

"Something dropped in my chest."Why is there a kid with you?""What kid?"Todd denied it instantly."You're hearing things. That's the TV.""The old house has a TV?""Can't it be the neighbor's?"His voice went up a notch."Nadia, you call me in the middle of the night just to interrogate me?""If you don't trust me, fine."With that, he hung up.I didn't call back.I immediately opened the camera app for the house.The screen spun for a long time.Then a line of gray text came up.[Device offline.]The cameras did go out a lot.Every time I asked, Todd said the WiFi was spotty.I used to believe him.But the smart toilet was working.The WiFi hadn't dropped.Only the cameras were offline.So the network was up. Which meant the cameras had probably been unplugged.They weren't broken. Someone didn't want me to see.I closed the camera app and went back into the toilet's admin panel.Each of the 37 entries also showed how long the abnormal load had lasted.The shortest was 17 minutes.The longest, 54.If someone was just using the bathroom, there was no way they'd sit there that long.Stranger still: after every abnormal load ended, the deepclean cycle had been started by hand.Like someone hadn't just been using my things.Chapter 2And had gotten very practiced at cleaning up the scene afterward.I opened the dates.The first time was a Tuesday, three months ago.I was out of town at a conference that day.The second time, I was staying at the hospital with my motherinlaw.The third, I'd gone back home for the anniversary of my dad's death.Every time after that dodged the hours I was home, just as precisely.Midnight. One in the morning.Once in a while, a weekday afternoon.Like someone had studied my schedule.And today I was away on a business trip.Todd had told me he'd gone back home to visit his brother's grave.His brother died in a car accident five years ago.Every year on the anniversary, Todd went back for two days.I had never once questioned it.But now.In a house that should have been empty, the toilet was holding 310 pounds.310 pounds.I wrote the number down on a sheet of paper.Under it I wrote Todd's weight.185 pounds.310 minus 185.125 pounds.I stared at the result, and a ridiculous idea came to me.Not one person who weighed 310 pounds?But a 185pound person and a 125pound person, sitting down on it at the same time?Two people on a toilet at once?My ears went hot, and then my stomach turned.Seven years of marriage, and Todd found changing positions in bed too much work.Now he had the energy to go looking for a thrill on a toilet with somebody else.Once you could call ridiculous. What about 37 times?They couldn't be that devoted to that one toilet.Unless — there was a secret in there they had to flush away the second they finished.I exported all 37 records and sent them to another email account.I'd just finished saving them.Then Todd's message came in.[Get some sleep. Don't let your imagination run away with you.]I looked at the message.How did he know my imagination was running away with me?I wrapped up work that night and drove home.A little after five in the morning, the complex was pitch dark.Only our windows were lit.Todd had said flat out that he was 200 miles away, back home.But his car was parked right there in the underground garage.I hauled my suitcase up the stairs, fast.The door had barely opened.Todd came out of the bedroom.He was fully dressed, his hair wet.But something panicked flashed across his face."What are you doing back?"I didn't answer.I asked him, "Weren't you back home visiting the grave?"Todd froze for a beat."Already went. There wasn't much to do, so I drove back overnight.""That fast?" I asked.He said it like he had every right to."How long does it take to put fresh flowers on my brother's grave?"I looked into the living room. The place was tidy.No strange shoes in the entryway.No woman's hair on the couch.The trash had been emptied, too.The woman was already gone.And before she left, the two of them had cleaned up carefully."Why are the cameras offline again?" I asked.Todd's face changed instantly."I unplugged them, okay?""You're on your phone watching this place all day. Are you trying to spy on me?"He slammed his phone down on the table."Here. Check it.""Texts, email, photos — check whatever you want."I hadn't asked him a single question yet.He already had every answer ready.I didn't touch his phone.If Todd was handing it over, there was nothing in it.Going through it would only let him drop his guard.Chapter 3I dragged my suitcase into the bedroom.The sheets were smooth.The pillows sat exactly where I'd left them.The toe of my high heel came down on something.It clicked and shot out across the floor.I stopped.I bent down and looked under the bed.In the shadow lay a blue building block the size of a fingernail.Half a white star was printed on it.Todd and I don't have children.So who brought this block into my bedroom?And how had Todd known I was on my way home?Had he put a tracker on me?Then a locationsharing update came up on my phone.My husband had updated his location.I travel and work late a lot. He said he wanted to know where I was without calling and distracting me while I was driving.So he had me join family location sharing. That way he could see where I was anytime.That was how he'd been watching me.And he had his own location turned off.I put the block in my pocket.For the next two days, I asked nothing.Todd, meanwhile, was unusually open.He left his phone out on the table.He didn't take it into the shower.Sometimes he even had me answer his messages for him.The more he did it, the more certain I was that the phone had been wiped.Once, he went out on the balcony to take a call.His phone was right there on the table.But he pulled a small old phone out of the inside pocket of his jacket.When he saw me come out of the kitchen, he shoved it back in."Work backup phone."I hadn't asked. He explained anyway.The second phone never appeared again.While he was at work, I plugged the living room camera back in.I didn't tell him.That night I worked late.A little after nine, my phone got an alert: person detected.Todd was sitting on the couch, on his phone.He hadn't noticed the camera was back.He was smiling at the screen. It was the smile people only have when they're in love.I zoomed in as far as the image would go.I could just make out the last four digits of the number and one line of text.The last four digits: 9836.The message read:[The day of Mom's 60th, throw her straight out. I've had enough of living like this.]Mom? Who else calls my motherinlaw Mom?Todd's sister? Impossible.Her number doesn't end in 9836, and she and Todd only talk on Messenger.I went through my contacts. Not one number ended in 9836.On a sheet of paper I listed every woman who might call my motherinlaw Mom.Todd's sister. A cousin's wife. Lorna, Todd's brother's widow.And even the assistant at Todd's office, the one who's like a daughter to my motherinlaw and calls her Mom too.Then I checked every number each of them had ever given out.Not one ended in 9836.The number might as well have come out of thin air.A reverse lookup gave me no owner.Nothing tied it to anyone.Or maybe the woman on the toilet wasn't one of those three at all. Maybe it was some other woman in a hurry to take my place, and she'd already met my motherinlaw.The only thing I knew for certain was that this person knew about the 60th birthday party.She called my motherinlaw Mom, so my motherinlaw had to know she existed.And she was sure that after the party, I'd be thrown out of my own house.The next day, my motherinlaw called me."Tomorrow is my 60th. You two are booking me ten tables in the city.""All the relatives and friends are coming. The food and the liquor had better be the best."It wasn't only the 60th. She'd thrown herself a party every year since she turned 50.We were always the ones who paid.Chapter 4The number 310 came back to me, and the words came straight out of my mouth."Who's paying?"She blew up on the spot."How many 60th birthdays do I get in a year?""What's so terrible about you spending a little money?""You're living in that big house with no kids. What are you saving it for, the coffin?"I didn't say anything. She yelled for a while, then suddenly changed her tune."Forget it. I'll pay for the dinner.""You just get me a decent birthday present."I asked her:"Mom, what do you want?"She got mysterious."You'll find out tomorrow."After she hung up.I thought about that line in the text.[The day of Mom's 60th, throw her straight out.]So tomorrow's party.What was really being served wasn't the food.It was me.I went into the master bathroom.I went over the smart toilet carefully.Sure enough, there was a thin crack along the edge of the seat.One person at a time, no problem.But in the last three months it had taken 37 abnormal loads of around 310 pounds.It would be strange if it hadn't cracked.I thought about what those two might have been doing on it, and my stomach rolled.I almost called service to report it.My finger was on the call button when I stopped.Tomorrow, while I was out of the house.Would that weight show up again?A broken toilet has to be fixed. A crack needs glue.I drove to the hardware store and bought silicone sealant and heavyduty superglue for the repair.At home I took the seat apart, and halfway through, I stopped on purpose.I took a photo of the crack in the seat and sent it to someone in engineering.Duane from engineering wrote back:[The seat is already warped. Don't use it for now.]"Why?" I asked.Duane: [It could trigger an alarm. The registered user confirms whether to activate protection mode, and the toilet releases quickset protective foam to temporarily hold the damaged part together so the seat doesn't suddenly shatter and injure someone.]I sent back one word: [Okay.]Then I saved the whole conversation.The next day, I made a point of repairing the toilet myself, before the party started.One layer of glue felt thin, so I added another.From the outside you couldn't tell.The toilet was broken. All I'd done was follow the temporary repair instructions and secure the crack.As for whether two people would sit down on it later.That would be their own fault for being in such a hurry.The party was at a hotel just outside our complex.Less than half a mile from my house.At noon that day, ten tables of relatives were packed in.My motherinlaw wore a bright red party dress.I ran back and forth greeting her guests.She still thought I was too slow."Didn't you eat? You can't even pour a drink without dragging your feet.""Everyone here today is Rafferty family. Don't you dare pull a face at me."I didn't bother answering.My eyes kept searching the crowd.The assistant was there. Todd's sister was there.A cousin and a few cousins' wives came too.Women who could be somewhere around 125 pounds: seven or eight of them, at least.Finally.Lorna walked into the banquet hall holding Micah's hand.Micah had a police car built out of blocks in his arms.One corner of the roof was missing.It left half a broken white star.My heart was slamming, but I walked over smiling."Micah, that car is beautiful. Can Aunt Nadia see it?"Micah likes me. He handed it right over.While he wasn't looking, I slipped the blue block out of my pocket.And pressed it gently into place.【建议收费节点】Chapter 5It clicked. A perfect fit.I put the toy car right back in his hands.I didn't ask him anything.At least now I knew Micah had been in my bedroom.Lorna saw how close I was standing to Micah.Her face wasn't quite right, and she came straight over.I looked at her.Lorna had a reputation as the virtuous one.Her husband had been dead five years, and she'd raised Micah on her own.What relative ever mentioned her without praising her devotion?My motherinlaw doted on her like her own daughter.Lorna managed a smile."Nadia, Mom wants me to bring Micah over."She hurried Micah off toward my motherinlaw.I stayed where I was and watched her go.Why had Micah been in my house?All I could do was wait for my chance.I looked around the hall at the women.Todd's assistant was toasting my motherinlaw.Todd's sister had her head down, answering messages.Lorna had Micah in her arms at the table farthest from Todd.Every one of them looked perfectly normal.Finally my motherinlaw got around to demanding her present.I'd ordered her a threetier cake and put $500 in a card.She opened it in front of every relative there.Her face dropped."Five hundred? Is that what you hand a beggar?"Someone beside her told her to be grateful.But she slapped the envelope down on the table."I raised a son and handed him to her. Isn't taking care of me the least she owes me?""Tell you what."She pulled a document out of her purse."Sign the house over to me. Call it my 60th birthday present."The hall went quiet.My house came from my dad. It was in my name before the marriage, my own separate property.When we got married, she hadn't put in a cent.Now she was opening her mouth and asking for the whole thing.I asked."Mom, isn't that a pretty big present?"She rolled her eyes."It's not like you can have children.""Who's it going to go to in the end if not the Raffertys?"I looked at the document.It wasn't some gift deed downloaded off the internet.The address, the square footage, the parcel number, all filled in.Even my full legal name from the deed, middle name and all, without a letter wrong.The grantee line had my motherinlaw's name on it.The witness line was already signed by Todd.This wasn't something they'd thought up today.They'd decided for me, a long time ago, who this house belonged to.She slapped a pen down in front of me."Sign it. The whole family is watching. Don't leave me standing here at 60 with no way to save face."Todd's tense shoulders visibly came down.He shot his mother a look and pressed his mouth flat, and it kept slipping anyway.He even poured me a glass of wine."I knew it. My wife always does the right thing."Then he glanced down at his phone."You two go ahead and sign. I'll go move things along with the food. Let's really celebrate today."He walked out of the hall, light on his feet.He looked like he couldn't wait — and not for the food.He looked like a man in a hurry to tell someone the good news.Right then my phone buzzed.[313 lbs detected. Abnormal load duration too long.][Seat failure risk rising.][Activate protection mode now?]I turned to my motherinlaw