Даниэла Стил - Neighbors

Will never mentioned his father, but Daphne wanted to know how he was, and if he was okay. Meredith said she was sure he was.

At least they were all safe now at Meredith’s house. She told them they could stay for as long as they wanted, and hoped they would. Child Protective Services had come to talk to Tyla, Meredith, and the children, and they were satisfied that as long as Tyla and her children stayed with Meredith, the children would be in good hands. Andrew had been forbidden to see them until further hearings and a psychiatric evaluation.

Meredith tried to leave the room when Andrew called Tyla, but when she didn’t, she could tell he was always wheedling and pleading and begging, and apologizing. He kept reminding Tyla that he was a doctor, and swore he would take anger management classes. Meredith hated that he was manipulating Tyla, and hoped it wasn’t working.

Things began to unravel then. Will punched a boy at school who called him a name. It was the first time he had exhibited violent tendencies, and they didn’t have far to look for the example for that. He was suspended from school for three days, which had never happened before. Jack complained that someone had taken his Swiss Army knife, and Debbie found it under Will’s pillow in his room. Will swore he hadn’t taken it, and Meredith wanted to believe him, but the evidence was damning. And worst of all for Meredith, there was a beautifully carved ivory horse that had belonged to her parents. She kept it in the library, and Debbie found it smashed to bits on the floor, as though someone had destroyed it intentionally. Everyone in the house knew how much she loved it. Debbie wasn’t even allowed to dust it. It was broken into a million pieces, beyond repair. That time Meredith wondered. And worse still, Debbie said she had seen him do it. She swore it was true. Will sobbed piteously, promising he hadn’t done it.

Meredith brought the subject up gingerly with Tyla, one morning when they were alone, and pointed out that there had been a number of violent incidents involving Will recently, and she was concerned about him.

“Do you want us to leave?” Tyla looked crushed. She believed her son. She swore to Meredith that he had never been destructive.

“He also never saw, or heard, his mother beaten nearly to death by his father. I don’t want you to leave, of course not. But maybe he needs therapy of some kind, someone neutral he can talk to.”

“He’s not disturbed,” she insisted.

“He’s suffering,” Meredith said. “That’s different.” They all were and had suffered an unspeakable trauma, physically in Tyla’s case, and emotionally for all of them.

Meredith talked to Charles about it, and he agreed with her that Will should have counseling, and Daphne too. They’d been through a lot, and it wasn’t over yet. If Andrew was convicted, he would go to prison for many years, which would be heartbreaking for them too. “Although I will tell you that I don’t trust Debbie as an objective reporter of these incidents.”

“You still don’t trust her?” Meredith looked shocked.

“No, I don’t. She would love it if Tyla and her kids went home, and if she can help that to happen, I think she’d say damn near anything to achieve it.” Meredith looked sad when he said it.

“You don’t know her.” He didn’t argue with her about it. He knew that she had a soft spot for them and was loyal to them.

“There’s one thing I do want to remind you of, though. Most women who have been abused by their husbands or partners go back to them, even if they’re separated. It’s tragic. And they don’t always survive a second round.” The thought of it made her shudder, and she hoped he was wrong. She thought that Tyla talked to Andrew far too often, and was too sympathetic to him, after what he’d done. And she lied to Meredith sometimes and claimed she wasn’t talking to him, and Meredith could tell she was. She didn’t think that Tyla was always truthful with her, but she did believe Will when he said he hadn’t destroyed anything. But Debbie wasn’t a liar either. Emotions in the house were running high.

There was another incident a week later. A valuable piece of delicately carved jade vanished out of the drawing room. Debbie reported it to Meredith immediately when she noticed it was missing. It didn’t turn up in Will’s bedroom. It was nowhere to be found. This time, Charles was skeptical, and flatly didn’t believe Debbie.

“That’s not the kind of thing a kid would want. You can’t do anything with it.” It aroused his suspicions, and that afternoon, Charles wandered into the kitchen, took some Ziploc bags, and dropped some common objects into them. The salt cellar Debbie used often from above the stove, a coffee mug she’d used and he emptied and dropped into the plastic bag, a pair of kitchen scissors, a glass he’d seen Jack drink out of an hour before and no one had washed yet. He took half a dozen ordinary items, put all the Ziplocs in a paper bag, and went out to his car with it. He came back an hour later. Debbie was already complaining that someone had taken her scissors and the salt by then. Charles made no comment and no one had observed his little treasure hunt around the kitchen. He’d have one of his employees take it all to the police lab for fingerprinting.

He got a call from one of his police contacts the next morning and nothing he heard surprised him. It was what he had expected, and it was painful sharing it with Meredith, who had been betrayed by people she loved before.

He told her what he’d done, and she looked shocked at first, when he said he had sent the objects he knew had their fingerprints on them to the police, to run them through the interstate computers, and the California Criminal Justice System to check for criminal records and prior convictions.

“I hate to say this to you, but Debbie and Jack both have prison records, for stolen credit cards, credit card fraud, shoplifting, possession of drugs with intent to sell. They have a list of convictions an arm long. They’ve both served time. They were suspected of stealing money from two previous employers, but both couples died before it could be proven, and their families chose not to pursue it. The couple you love, who became your best friends, are crooks. They’re convicts, convicted felons. And I’ll bet that if you go through your house accounts carefully, you’ll find that they’ve been stealing money from you too. They’re not who you think they are. I’m really sorry, Meredith.” She looked heartbroken, and he hated to give her the bad news.

“They can’t be what you say,” she said with tears in her eyes. “They came to me with glowing references.”

“They probably wrote them themselves. Did you call the people who wrote them?” She shook her head.

“They were so good, I thought I didn’t need to.”

“From what I’ve seen and what you’ve said to me, I think they’ve manipulated you and isolated you, and controlled you, or tried to, until I came along, and you made new friends, and weren’t as vulnerable as before. I think that’s why they hate any of your neighbors staying here, and me probably. They want you alone, and they don’t want anyone watching them. I’ve had a bad feeling about them since the day I met them. I want to do something with you now. Where are they right now?”

“I don’t know. I think Jack went to the hardware store, and Debbie wanted to buy milk. The kids drank it all.”

“I want to go to their room with you and have a look around.”

“I can’t let you do that,” she said, horrified. “I respect their privacy. They’re decent people,” she pleaded for them, with the affection of fifteen years of loyalty on both sides.

“They have prison records,” he reminded her. “They’re criminals, with arrest records a mile long.” The facts were impossible to deny, although she was sure they had never stolen from her. She would have sworn to it. She wanted to prove it to Charles.