[CHAPTER 3]
Dad did call the police.
Lydia did not try to stop him.
That frightened me more than if she had screamed.
She simply stood beside the garden office with her arms folded while Dad explained that we had found letters suggesting I had been threatened before my fall.
Two officers arrived thirty minutes later.
They read Mara’s letters.
They photographed the office.
They asked Noah questions gently.
Then they asked me.
I told them everything I remembered.
It did not feel like enough.
Fragments were not evidence.
A hand.
A voice.
A threat.
A fall.
Lydia sat on the terrace the entire time drinking tea.
When one officer finally approached her, she almost looked bored.
“Yes, I followed Clara into the garden,” she said.
My heart stopped.
Dad stared at her.
She continued calmly.
“She was upset. We argued. She ran away from me.”
The officer glanced toward me.
“Did you grab her?”
“I may have touched her arm.”
Touched.
The word made me furious.
“She grabbed me.”
Lydia looked hurt.
“Clara, I was trying to stop you from running.”
“You threatened me.”
Her eyes filled with tears instantly.
“I told you not to upset your father with something you misunderstood.”
Dad moved forward.
“What did she misunderstand?”
Lydia looked at him.
“Financial paperwork.”
Silence.
Dad’s face changed.
She gave him a sad smile.
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Then perhaps you should look at your own records before accusing me.”
The officers exchanged a glance.
One asked Lydia about Mara.
Lydia sighed.
“Mara hated me.”
Noah stepped forward.
“That’s not true.”
She looked at him.
“I’m sorry your mother died.”
“Don’t.”
His voice shook.
“Don’t pretend you cared.”
Lydia’s expression hardened.
Only for a second.
Then the softness returned.
“She was dismissed because I caught her stealing.”
Dad snapped his head toward Lydia.
“You told me she quit.”
“I was protecting Clara from more stress.”
“You lied.”
“I simplified an unpleasant situation.”
I had heard Lydia use that phrase before.
Simplified.
She simplified anything that made her look guilty.
The officers said they would need copies of financial records.
They also wanted to speak with Mara’s family.
Noah gave them his aunt’s name.
When they finally left, Dad told Lydia to pack a bag.
She laughed once.
“You’re serious?”
“I want you out of this house tonight.”
She stared at him.
“We’ve been married six years.”
“And my daughter is telling me you chased her into the garden.”
“She is recovering from a traumatic brain injury.”
My hands tightened around my crutches.
Dad looked at her with disgust.
“Stop using her injury against her.”
Lydia’s face changed.
Not much.
But I saw it.
Hatred.
It was aimed at me.
“You’ll regret this,” she told Dad.
He stepped closer.
“Leave.”
She walked into the house without another word.
Noah’s aunt arrived shortly afterward.
Her name was Elena.
She was Mara’s younger sister.
The second she saw Noah, she rushed across the driveway and grabbed him.
“I have been losing my mind!”
“I’m sorry.”
He started crying.
“I had to come.”
Elena pulled back to look at him.
Then she saw me.
And Dad.
And the letters.
Her anger disappeared.
“Oh.”
Dad approached carefully.
“You knew?”
Elena looked toward the house.
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“How much?”
“Not everything.”
She held Noah against her side.
“Mara told me she witnessed something here. She never told me exactly what.”
“Why?”
“Because she was terrified.”
Dad looked ashamed.
Elena continued.
“She thought Lydia had connections. Lawyers. Money.”
“She had me,” Dad said quietly.
Elena’s eyes became sharp.
“Did she?”
He had no answer.
That hurt him.
I could see it.
Maybe it needed to.
Elena reached into her bag.
“There’s something else.”
She pulled out a small phone.
The screen was cracked.
“Mara’s.”
Noah stared.
“You found it?”
“In a box under her bed.”
She looked at Dad.
“There are recordings.”
Lydia came down the front steps carrying a suitcase before Elena could say more.
Her eyes immediately found the phone.
That was the first time I saw her truly lose control.
She stopped.
“What is that?”
Elena held it tighter.
“None of your business.”
Lydia looked at Dad.
“You’re allowing strangers to come into our home with stolen property now?”
“It belonged to Mara.”
“She stole confidential information.”
Elena’s face hardened.
“You’re afraid.”
Lydia laughed.
“Of you?”
“No.”
Elena held up the phone.
“Of her.”
Lydia crossed the driveway toward us.
Dad stepped between them.
“Leave.”
“David.”
“Now.”
She looked at me.
I expected another sweet smile.
Instead she whispered,
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
My skin prickled.
“What does that mean?”
She did not answer.
She got into her car and drove away.
Dad watched until the gates closed.
Then Elena unlocked Mara’s phone.
There were dozens of audio files.
Most were ordinary.
Notes.
Shopping lists.
Messages Mara had recorded for herself.
Then Elena opened one labeled GARDEN.
Static filled the speaker.
A woman was crying.
Mara.
Then Lydia’s voice.
Clear.
Cold.
“You saw nothing.”
Mara answered.
“A child almost died.”
“She fell.”
“You grabbed her.”
Dad’s knees nearly gave out.
The recording continued.
Mara said she was going to the police.
Lydia laughed.
Then she said something that made Noah bury his face against his aunt.
“If you speak, I will make sure your son is taken from you before sunset.”
I felt Dad trembling beside me.
But there was another voice on the recording.
A man.
Low.
Impatient.
“Enough, Lydia. Get rid of the camera footage before David comes home.”
Dad looked at me.
I looked at him.
Neither of us recognized the voice at first.
Then the man spoke again.
And Dad whispered one name.
“Martin.”
Lydia’s brother.
May you like
The family lawyer.
The man who had handled my mother’s trust for six years.
