Chapter 5
Grace, Ben’s younger sister, had not spoken to him in almost a year.
That detail seemed unrelated until it wasn’t.
Grace lived in Hartford, taught high school chemistry, and had the dangerous habit of saying what she meant. Linda called her “difficult.” Ben called her “self-righteous.” I called her honest.
Three days before the breakfast incident, Grace texted me out of nowhere.
How are you holding up?
I stared at the screen longer than I should have.
Why?
Because people don’t usually ask that question unless they sense something.
I wrote back:
Depends on the hour.
She answered almost immediately.
That bad?
I hesitated, then typed:
Linda’s here constantly. Ben’s in denial. Ellie’s starting to get scared of breakfast.
Grace didn’t respond for almost ten minutes.
Then:
Be careful.
My stomach tightened.
What does that mean?
Another pause.
Mom and Ben have been talking to someone.
Someone?
A lawyer, I think.
I sat down at the kitchen table so hard the chair scraped.
What kind of lawyer?
I don’t know for sure, Rachel. I only heard part of it. But Mom said something about “paper trail” and Ben said you “always overreact in front of witnesses.”
For a second the room went blurry.
I read the text again.
Ben says stupid things when he’s mad, I typed.
Grace answered:
Maybe. Or maybe he’s planning something and Mom is helping.
Did she say what?
No. But she asked me if I thought a judge would care more about a mother “with emotions” or a grandmother “with stability.”
My hands started shaking.
That sounded insane.
Also, after everything I had seen from Linda, it sounded possible.
I called Grace.
She answered on the first ring.
“I didn’t want to text all this,” she said.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“Because I didn’t know if I was being paranoid.”
“Grace, what exactly did you hear?”
“Mom asked Ben if he’d kept records.”
“Records of what?”
“That’s all I heard. And when I walked back into the room, they stopped talking.”
I pressed my free hand against my forehead.
“What kind of records?”
“I don’t know. But Rachel…” She took a breath. “Don’t be alone with them if you don’t have to.”
That was the first warning.
I wish I could say I took it seriously enough.
May you like
I didn’t.
Not yet.
