Chapter 5
I did not go home with Daniel.
He followed me to the porch while Lydia waited beside her car.
“Emily, please.”
I kept walking.
“Not tonight.”
“Where are you going?”
“Somewhere you can’t stand silent while I’m hurt.”
He flinched.
“I froze.”
“No,” I said. “You chose.”
His eyes filled.
“My mother has controlled me my whole life.”
I turned back.
“And when she controlled you, you handed her me.”
He had no answer.
I stayed at Clara’s apartment.
It was small, warm, and nothing like Evelyn’s house.
Clara made tea with shaking hands.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“You testified.”
“Too late.”
I did not argue.
Because sometimes apologies are true and still late.
At midnight, Lydia called.
“They found pills in Robert’s kitchen cabinet. Sedatives prescribed by Dr. Alan Price.”
“Does Robert know him?”
“No.”
“Evelyn?”
“She has called him seventy-six times this year.”
Clara heard and went pale.
“Dr. Price was Mom’s friend.”
“What kind of friend?”
Clara looked down.
“When we were kids, he came over whenever Dad was gone.”
My skin prickled.
The man on the recording was Martin.
But Evelyn had more than one secret.
The next morning, Robert came to Clara’s apartment.
He looked exhausted.
He held a folder.
“I found this in Evelyn’s desk.”
Inside were copies of my driver’s license, my social security card, and a signed statement I had never written.
I, Emily Hayes, admit to stealing family money.
My heart pounded.
Robert’s voice shook.
“She planned to destroy you completely.”
Then Clara reached into the folder and pulled out a photograph.
Evelyn.
Martin.
Dr. Price.
Standing outside an old house.
May you like
On the back, one word was written.
Clara.
