Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN JESSICA CALLED UNSTABLE BEFORE EMILYAllison contacted Emily herself.
Not because we searched for her.
Because Sarah told her Matthew was under investigation and Allison decided Emily deserved information she had once wished someone gave her.
They met with Emily’s attorney aware of the conversation.
I was not there.
Emily told me afterward.
Allison had dated Matthew for four years.
Engaged for seven months.
The relationship ended after he shoved her against a refrigerator during an argument.
No police report.
No hospital record.
She left that night.
Jessica called her for weeks.
Not to apologize.
To explain Matthew.
His father was dying.
Work was stressful.
Allison knew how sensitive he was.
Then Jessica told mutual friends Allison had become emotionally unstable.
Allison moved to Cincinnati and cut contact.
Her account did not prove what happened to Emily.
It mattered because it showed Jessica’s behavior had precedent.
More important, Allison had saved one old email from Jessica.
You know Matthew only becomes physical when he believes the person he loves is leaving him.
Emily read the sentence several times.
Not becomes angry.
Becomes physical.
Jessica had known.
Years before Emily entered the family.
That changed the emotional center of the case.
Jessica could no longer plausibly claim she discovered her son’s violence alongside everyone else.
She had seen it before.
She had explained it before.
Then she had watched the same progression happen to Emily.
Emily asked Allison one question.
“Why didn’t you report him?”
Allison smiled sadly.
“Probably for a lot of the same reasons you didn’t.”
That answer helped Emily more than advice would have.
Meanwhile Matthew’s employer learned about the investigation.
He was not immediately fired.
He was placed on administrative leave because the incident involved pending criminal allegations and company leadership wanted review.
Matthew blamed me.
He told colleagues the former police chief father-in-law was destroying his career.
I said nothing publicly.
Harris kept doing his work.
That silence cost me.
I wanted everyone to know what Matthew had done.
But Emily had spent years being spoken for.
I would not become another man speaking louder than her because I thought my motive was better.
Then Jessica made a mistake.
She went to Emily’s old house while Matthew was retrieving mail and began throwing away damaged household items.
One was the overturned table from the night of the assault.
Harris had already photographed it.
Emily’s attorney had already requested that disputed property be preserved.
Jessica called it trash.
Harris called it another fact to document.
Not instant obstruction charges.
May you like
Not handcuffs.
Just another decision added to a growing pattern of trying to clean what should have been left alone.
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