Chapter 14 - Nobody Needs to Remember
Nobody needs to remember it differently.
I read the words until they stopped looking like English. My mother wasn't confused. She was trying to decide what everybody would remember.
Detective Brooks explained that the messages were being assessed alongside the interviews and the camera activity record. The prosecutor would determine what charges, if any, were supported. She refused to promise me a result.
I respected her for that, even when I hated waiting.
Ben met with investigators about Christmas. Dad corrected his original statement in writing. Gloria kept Mom's email. Tess made a folder for every document, then made a second folder for Emma's drawings, because some things deserved to be saved for happier reasons.
One evening my cousin called. "I'm ashamed I was in that dining room last Christmas," Ben said. "I thought staying out of it was neutral."
"I used to think that too."
"How's Emma?"
"She had a good morning. Then the toaster popped and she hid behind the couch."
"I'm sorry."
"She's working on it. We both are."
After the call I sat with Emma on the rug. We made a game out of listening to ordinary household noises: the refrigerator hum, the rain tapping the window, Tess putting away a spoon. We stopped whenever Emma wanted.
She pointed at the kitchen door. "Can I close it?"
"Yes. You get to choose."
That night the prosecutor authorized charges against Vanessa. Brooks called me before I saw it online. She told me the allegations and reminded me that an arrest was not a conviction.
I went into Emma's room. Her stuffed rabbit had fallen onto the floor, so I tucked it beside her pillow. She slept through the entire conversation I was having in my head with my sister.
May you like
The next morning Vanessa was released under conditions while her case proceeded.
Before lunch, my mother was standing outside Tess's front door with an envelope full of cash.
