Chapter 13 - What Lily Remembered
I asked Miles to keep Lily away from the family messages. He told me he'd already stopped allowing anyone to use her as a messenger.
"Her mother says I'm poisoning her against the family," he said.
"Are you?"
"I'm letting her see her counselor and eat dinner without being cross-examined. Apparently that's poisonous now."
We both laughed once, exhausted. Then we fell quiet.
A trained child interviewer met with Lily through the appropriate process. Neither Miles nor I sat in the room. Detective Brooks later told me that the account was relevant to the investigation and that the adults should not ask Lily to repeat it for us.
I didn't. What I wanted was to hear my niece giggle again, not to turn her into a witness at every family gathering.
Two days later, Miles gave me a folded card Lily had made for Emma. It showed two girls in pink dresses eating breakfast beneath a yellow sun. In careful, oversized letters she had written: I SAVED YOU A SEAT.
I sat on Tess's porch and cried so hard I had to put the card down.
Emma found me there. "Is Lily mad?"
"No, sweetie. She made you a picture."
Emma studied it. "She shared the eggs."
"I know."
"Can I send her one?"
"Of course."
While Emma drew, Brooks called. She had obtained additional messages as part of the investigation. Before the incident, Mom had told Vanessa that Rachel was upstairs and insisted Emma be removed from Lily's place.
"The wording matters," Brooks said. "It doesn't say anyone should throw a skillet. But your mother knew the confrontation was coming."
"And she turned off the camera."
May you like
"Yes."
Brooks paused. "There's another message, sent after you left for the hospital. It says, 'We all agree Emma pulled it down. Nobody needs to remember it differently.'"
