Chapter 10 - The Daughter Who Left
Abby Bell answered on the fourth ring.
"If this is about my mother," she said, "don't ask me to forgive her."
"It's about Evie," Daniel replied.
He told her everything. I heard Abby's breathing change at the mention of the orange swim top.
"Is Evie alive?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Then listen carefully. Don't leave her alone with Margaret. Not for a minute."
Abby arrived the next evening in an old pickup, wearing jeans and a faded college sweatshirt. She was forty-one, with Daniel's dark eyes and none of his habit of apologizing before he spoke.
She hugged him so fiercely he nearly fell backward.
"You should've called years ago," he said.
"You should've answered."
We sat in the hospital cafeteria. Abby told us that when she was seven, Margaret had insisted she practice swimming without the support her instructor recommended. Abby panicked in deep water. Her father, Robert, pulled her out. Margaret later told the family she had done it herself.
"I was scared of the water for years," Abby said. "She told everyone I was making it up for attention."
"Why would she do that?" Daniel asked.
"Because Dad was about to leave her. He'd threatened to take us with him. Then suddenly she was the heroic mother and he was the irresponsible father who'd nearly let me drown."
Daniel stared at the table.
"After that, Dad stopped talking about leaving," Abby said. "I spent half my childhood believing I'd almost killed our family."
"Can you prove any of it?" I asked.
Abby reached into her bag and set down a worn envelope.
"Dad apologized before he died. He gave me this because he wanted the truth somewhere outside that house."
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On the front, in Robert Bell's handwriting, were five words:
If Margaret ever does it again.
