Chapter 6
Diane’s first hearing was packed.
Reporters loved the headline.
Local restaurant owner accused of hiding ex-wife in walk-in freezer.
They did not love Lucy.
Not really.
They loved the horror.
I hated every camera.
Lucy wore a gray sweater and sat between her lawyer and victim advocate.
Jack stayed home with my sister Grace.
He had seen enough.
Diane entered in handcuffs.
She looked smaller without her restaurant, makeup, and control.
Then she saw me.
Her face softened.
“Mark.”
For one second, my body remembered trusting her.
Then I remembered Lucy behind plastic freezer curtains.
I looked away.
The prosecutor described the evidence.
The phone records.
The freezer.
The forged forms.
The trust withdrawals.
The fake texts from Lucy’s phone.
Diane’s lawyer claimed Lucy had appeared voluntarily.
The judge stared at him.
“In a freezer?”
No bail.
Diane screamed.
Not when they mentioned Lucy.
Not when they mentioned Jack.
When the judge said her accounts would remain frozen.
Money.
That was where she felt pain.
After court, Lucy walked past me.
I said, “Can I do anything?”
She stopped.
“Tell Jack the truth when he asks. Not the truth that makes you look better. The real one.”
“I will.”
She nodded once and kept walking.
That night, Jack called me from Grace’s phone.
He did not say hello.
He said, “Did you love Diane?”
I closed my eyes.
“I thought I did.”
“Did you love Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you look for her harder?”
There was no answer that could save me.
May you like
“I should have,” I said.
Jack hung up.
