Chapter 19 - The Money I Did Not Leave Him
Detective Cole drove me home on Christmas afternoon.
I could have waited. Evelyn said we did not need a holiday confrontation. But the petition had been filed, Lauren was still in my home, and Jeffrey believed his version of events was already becoming official.
I wanted to see his face when truth walked in behind me.
The porch steps had been salted by a neighbor. The railing still held the memory of my hand slipping away from it. For one second, my stomach turned at the sight of the place where I had fallen.
Detective Cole waited behind me.
“You don’t have to go in first,” he said.
“Yes,” I answered. “I do.”
It was still my house.
I opened the door.
Warm air, turkey, pine, candle wax, cranberry sauce, and lies.
Jeffrey and Lauren sat at the dining table as if Christmas could continue around my absence. The red plaid runner stretched between them. Walter’s favorite angel watched from the top of the tree.
Lauren performed concern.
“Sophia, what happened to your foot?”
I sat slowly, keeping both hands steady on my cane.
“You know exactly what happened.”
Jeffrey laughed.
“Maybe you finally learned your lesson.”
Behind me, the door opened wider.
Detective Cole stepped into the dining room with snow melting from his dark boots.
Jeffrey’s smile vanished.
Lauren’s fingers tightened around her napkin.
May you like
I lifted my chin.
“Come in, Officer.”
