Chapter 14: The Return For The Red Dress
We pulled into the driveway at 3:40 on Monday afternoon and the house looked exactly the same.
That was what threw me off. The white walls, the sheer curtains in the front window, the pendant light glowing in the hallway even though it was bright daylight outside. I had expected it to look different, like something should have marked what had happened. Daniel parked behind the county deputy's cruiser and left the engine running for a second too long. Deputy Torres was already out of her car, adjusting her bodycam.
"You ready, Mrs. Ellis?" she asked.
I nodded. I was wearing jeans and a plain gray sweater I'd borrowed from Helen. No makeup. My hair pulled back. I didn't look like the woman from the photographs.
Richard opened the front door before we reached it. He was in a navy polo and khakis, his hands in his pockets, trying to look casual. He didn't look at Daniel at first. He looked at me.
"Margaret," he said. "You brought an audience."
Deputy Torres stepped forward. "Mr. Ellis, I'm Deputy Torres. Mrs. Ellis has a court-approved escort to retrieve personal documents and items for her granddaughter. This is a voluntary civil standby. We'll need to stay together in common areas."
Richard smiled, thin and tight. He stepped aside to let us into the hallway. The same hallway. The same white walls with the soft even light. I could see straight down to the bright window at the end where Daniel had walked away that afternoon.
"Come on in then," he said. "Make it quick."
I walked past him. My flats made no sound on the floor. Daniel stayed near the deputy by the entryway, his hands clasped in front of him. He didn't speak. Richard watched me go toward the bedroom.
The red dress was hanging on the closet door where I'd left it. I'd steamed it that morning for the gala photos and now it hung empty, the ruched waist catching the light. The teardrop diamond necklace and earrings were in their velvet box on the dresser, lid open. I didn't touch them.
I opened the second drawer and took out the folder with Lily's birth certificate, my Social Security card, the deed copies Helen's legal aid had told me to get, and the small manila envelope with the foundation bank paperwork. My hands were steady. I put everything into the canvas tote I'd brought. Then I went to Lily's little room across the hall and pulled her blue duffel from the floor. I folded her light blue outfit, the one she'd been wearing that day on the floor, and two more sets of clothes, her stuffed rabbit, her toothbrush. I zipped it slowly.
When I came back into the hallway, Richard was leaning against the wall.
"So that's it?" he said to the deputy. "She takes what she wants and I'm the bad guy? You're protecting her?" He said it the same way he'd said it before, with that mocking lift at the end, like it was an accusation I couldn't answer. He looked at me. "You're protecting her? From her own grandfather?"
I didn't answer right away. I set Lily's bag down by my feet.
Deputy Torres said, "Mr. Ellis, let's keep this calm."
I looked at Richard. "Do you want to hear what that actually sounded like?"
He frowned.
I nodded to Deputy Torres. She tapped her bodycam and then held up her phone where we'd loaded the audio file Daniel had recorded that afternoon. Daniel had already given a copy to legal aid. This was the first time Richard would hear it played back outside his own head.
She pressed play.
The hallway was quiet except for the soft hum of the air conditioning. Then my voice, thin and sharp: "Get out of my sight. Please leave me alone. Don't touch her again."
A pause. Then Richard's voice, clear and close: "You're protecting her?"
Hearing it in that bright, white hallway, with a deputy standing there, it didn't sound like a question. It sounded exactly like what it was.
Richard's mouth opened slightly. He glanced at the deputy's camera. The color left his face.
"That's out of context," he said quickly.
Deputy Torres didn't stop the playback. She let it run to the end, then said evenly, "Sir, this audio is now part of the family court file per Mrs. Ellis's statement. The court has set a review for next week. You have the option today to sign a voluntary agreement to reside at an alternate address until that review. It avoids a formal order."
She held out a single-page form on a clipboard.
Richard stared at it. "You want me to leave my own house?"
"It's voluntary," she said. "You'd stay at the downtown apartment you listed as your business address. Mrs. Ellis and her granddaughter would have exclusive use of the residence in the interim. No finding, no arrest. Just a boundary the court will note you agreed to."
He laughed once, without humor. He looked at me, then at Daniel, who hadn't moved.
"This is what you want?" he said to me.
I picked up Lily's bag. The tote was heavy on my shoulder. "I want Lily to feel safe in her own house," I said. "That's all."
May you like
He took the clipboard. His hand shook a little as he signed. Deputy Torres signed as witness, then handed him his copy. He stepped aside from the hallway, back toward the kitchen, giving us the path to the door.
I left the red dress hanging. I left the diamonds in their box. I walked down that hallway one more time with Lily's clothes and our papers, Daniel holding the front door open for me, the deputy behind us, and the white walls empty behind us.
