Chapter 10
The interview room at the county sheriff's office smelled like coffee and floor cleaner. It was smaller than I expected, just a gray table, four plastic chairs, and a window with blinds that didn't close all the way. The light buzzed a little. The sheriff, a man in his fifties named Danner, set a recorder in the center and asked if I was ready. I said I was.
My name is Evelyn and that morning five years ago I was twenty-three and getting married.
Raffaele sat to my left but not at the table. He'd pulled his chair back against the wall like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be part of this or not. The housemaid — Ana — was in the hall outside. Danner had told her he would call her in after. He pushed the record button and stated the date, the time, and that I was giving a voluntary statement. Then he looked at me and nodded.
I started with the suite. The bridal suite in the mansion. It was the same room where Raffaele found the veil. That morning it was set up with mirrors and racks and a woman from the boutique doing last fittings. My dress was hanging by the window and Bianca was already there in her beige sequined dress. She kept adjusting the veil on my head, the pearl trim, saying it sat too low. I could feel her fingers tight against my scalp. She said the dress needed to be taken in again and I said it fit fine. It was a small argument but it didn't feel small. Her voice stayed soft because the photographer was coming in and out.
Danner asked me what time that was. I told him around ten. I remembered because the church parking lot shuttle was supposed to come at eleven-thirty.
Bianca had papers. She said they were standard, just something for the foundation's lawyers. A post-nuptial agreement. Raffaele hadn't mentioned it. I hadn't seen it before that morning. I tried to read it standing there in the dress and the veil, and she kept saying there wasn't time, that I should just sign so we could get on with the day. She said it was about protecting the boy, about protecting me. I said I wanted Raffaele to look at it with me. She said he was downstairs with his groomsmen and didn't need to be bothered.
I didn't sign.
Danner stopped me there and asked me to be specific. What did I say exactly. I told him I said, "Not today. Not like this." Bianca didn't raise her voice. She told me to rest. She said I looked pale, that I should lie down in the dressing room for a few minutes while she handled the photographer. The dressing room was behind the suite, wood paneled, no windows. I remember thinking it was cold for June.
I sat on the bench in there with the veil still pinned in my hair. The door clicked. I thought she'd just closed it. When I stood to open it, it was locked from the outside.
I could hear them at first. The music from downstairs. The catering staff moving chairs in the ballroom. I knocked and called out and nobody answered. I screamed. I screamed until my throat hurt and then I heard Bianca's shoes come back. She opened the door just enough to slide a glass of water and the papers through. She said if I signed, she'd let me out before the ceremony. I said no. She closed the door again. I heard a second click, heavier this time. That's when I realized it wasn't just a dressing room. The floor felt different under the rug. Hollow.
Danner looked at Raffaele. Raffaele hadn't moved. His hands were clasped so tight his knuckles were white around his silver watch.
After a while the music got louder. The reception had started. I could hear it through the floorboards. Glasses clinking, people laughing. Someone made a toast and everyone clapped. I pounded on the door again and shouted for Raffaele. Bianca came back. She didn't open the door all the way. She crouched down so her face was level with the crack.
She told me Raffaele would believe whatever she told him. She said she would tell him I ran, that I didn't want the marriage, that I didn't want the baby. She said she would tell everyone the baby wasn't his, that I'd been seeing someone in town, and that no judge in the county would give a girl who abandoned her wedding custody of anything. She said the foundation's lawyers would make sure of it.
I asked her if she really would do that. She said, "Try me."
I stopped screaming after that.
May you like
Danner asked me why. I told him I was already three months pregnant and no one knew yet except Bianca. I'd planned to tell Raffaele after the ceremony. I thought if she said that, he'd hate me. I thought I'd lose them both. The room was dark except for a little light coming through the floor seam. I could see the edge of my veil caught in it. I stayed quiet and listened to my own wedding happening above me.
When Danner turned the recorder off, my hands were shaking. He asked if I needed water. I shook my head. Through the blinds I could see Ana standing in the hallway holding her apron in her fists. Raffaele was still against the wall, his head down, breathing like he'd been holding it the whole time I was speaking.
