I could arrange something better.
“Yesterday.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“Margaret, what’s going on?”
“Did he ask you to sign anything?”
I stared at the papers on my table. “How did you know?”
We’d stopped talking altogether.
She went quiet.
“Margaret?”
“Listen carefully, Emma. There’s something Mark hasn’t told you.”
For the next twenty minutes, I listened, barely interrupting.
When she finished, I looked at the papers again. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Did he ask you to sign anything?
“I wanted to, Emma. But Mark made it clear he didn’t want me contacting you or the girls. I was afraid I’d only make things worse.”
“Are you absolutely sure about what you’ve told me?”
“Every word.”
Suddenly, Mark’s strange behavior made a lot more sense.
But I wasn’t revealing what I knew until I was ready to teach him a lesson.
I listened, barely interrupting.
***
The next afternoon, Mrs. Collins visited.
