Eva
Yes, Ben had finally made bail and come home, but he was exiled to the basement. At least that was what Morgan told me when I picked her and Miles up from school and told them that homework could wait, we were going to get pizza and have a big party, all of us, together.
“Even Daddy?”
“Yes, of course. Your father loves pizza.”
“But Mom said he’s going to be on retreat for a while.”
“Retreat?”
“Yeah, in the basement.”
“Ah.”
Interesting word, retreat. From one jail to another? Was that any way to welcome home an innocent husband?
We picked up three pizzas, one plain, one pepperoni, and one with veggies, to satisfy everyone, and headed back to Hillary’s house. I parked the car and told Morgan to take the pizzas inside, then told Miles to go tell his mother that Hillary had invited everyone up to her house for a pizza party.
“Okay,” he said warily, as if he knew I was lying.
Then I went inside and told one daughter that the other one was on her way and to open a bottle of red wine and get me a glass, that we were going to hash out a plan over pizza.
“Mom,” Hillary sighed as she poured, “this is not how crimes are solved.”
“Well, maybe if more police officers ate Italian food, they’d be better at cracking cases,” I said, then sipped my wine. “This is delicious, by the way.”
“It is, isn’t it?” She took a long sip herself. “Well, maybe if Hannah drank once in a while, she’d be calmer.”
“You drink, and you’re not calm.”
“I’m energized.”
“Okay, honey.”
There she went, trying to force me to take sides. I refused, of course. And I confess, I was not inclined to take her side anyway.
Hannah arrived, Miles went upstairs with Morgan, and three of us were alone in the kitchen. Hannah took her wine glass and poured some tap water into it, added ice from the freezer. At first, the silence was so deafening, you could hear the ice crackling in her glass. Was that the sound of détente? Or the sound that comes before everything goes to hell again?
“Hillary, you did find another good lawyer, right?” Hannah said finally.
“Yes. But the fact that he couldn’t get Ben bailed out quickly makes me doubt I have the right one.”
“There must be a reason.”
“Yeah, there’s a reason. They think he killed a kid. We know he didn’t, but…”
“Do we? Know that?” Hannah said it as gently as she could.
“Of course we do! Jesus, Hannah, once again I ask, whose side are you on?”
“Yours. Which is…not the same as Ben’s.”
“It’s all circumstantial. Bribing a kid to keep her mouth shut is not a crime. We bribed two of them tonight with pizza.”
Hannah glanced at me. Bribery was bribery. It was not a great leap to think a man who gave a child money and candy might also give her presents for her birthday. I almost couldn’t blame the police for adding it up either.
“But…what about DNA?” I asked.
“Oh, DNA takes forever. It’s not like dry cleaning. So I don’t think they have a damn thing besides her coming to the door to get more candy. Which proves nothing! And some stupid necklace they found. Which is why he should have made bail immediately! It’s all circumstantial.”
“They were probably just making him sweat a little.”
“Well, maybe if he had the right lawyer. Maybe if someone hadn’t swooped in and—”
“Stop,” I said. “Don’t you start this again. Hannah has as much right to protect her boy as you do your husband.”
“Well, as long as we’re sharing evidence, should I hazard a guess as to why there was a backhoe at your house?”
“I don’t know. Are you going to use it so Miles can be blamed instead of Ben?”
Hillary shrugged defiantly. “All I know is, Ben is innocent.”
“Well, Miles is innocent!”
“Is he, Han? Are you totally sure?”
“Of course he is, and he’s not going to lie to help your…your cheating husband!” Hannah spat out finally.
They were facing each other now on one side of the island, another warrior moment. I took a step toward the enormous copper sink, the water spray with its self-retracting hose nestled into the marble. I had to prepare to arm myself again, just in case.
“Girls, just because you’re mad at the world or your husbands doesn’t mean you should be mad at each other.”
“Mom, stay out of this,” Hillary said.
“Listen to me. No one is going to take the fall and lie for anybody. If the two of you work together, you can accomplish any damned thing you want, and you both know it. Now the police have Ben, they’ll be lazy. They’ll stop. And whoever is out there will get comfortable, too, let their guard down. And you have an advantage over the police.”
“What? We’re smaller? We can fit through drainage pipes?” Hannah asked.
“No, silly. You live here. You know the whole neighborhood. And you’re smarter than the police.”
“Well, that’s true,” Hillary sighed.
“Now let’s make a list of everyone who was at poker night and start there,” I said, opening a drawer and taking out pen and paper.
“Also Kendra’s ex-husbands,” Hillary said. “And their closest neighbors. And older boys, teenagers who might party in the woods.”
Hannah took a deep breath.
“What?” Hillary said. “You look like you were about to say something.”
“If we do this, the kids can’t know,” she said. “We can’t scare them about all their neighbors.”
“Get Ben up here,” I said. “We need his help with the poker list.”
When Hillary came back with Ben, I walked over and gave him a hug, patting him on the back for a long time, for support. But Hannah kept her eyes focused on her feet.
He gave us the first names of everyone in the group, although he didn’t know some last names and wasn’t precisely sure where everyone lived. He also couldn’t say for certain how many guys were there at the last game, since they had all been so drunk. He remembered talking to seven other men, and that was it. He didn’t have their street addresses, but he had their email addresses and some of their phone numbers. Even as he spoke and we talked about each man, Hannah said nothing. Even when he spoke to her directly and asked her if she knew either of the people who lived behind her, she just shook her head and didn’t meet his gaze. One thing was certain. If there was anyone who was guilty in that room that day, it was her.