Chapter 6 - THE BACK DOOR
Elena sat upright so quickly the monitor strap shifted.
“Call her back.”
Nora was already dialing.
Gabriel moved toward the door.
Elena caught his sleeve.
“Dad.”
He stopped.
“Remember.”
His jaw worked.
Then he called the police instead.
For the next nine minutes, Elena watched the clock above her bed.
Nine minutes could hold a whole lifetime.
On the tenth, Maya called.
“I’m outside.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Are you hurt?”
“No. Rosa told me about the service door yesterday. I went through the pantry.”
Nora put the phone on speaker.
“Where are you now?”
“Across the road. There’s an officer here.”
Maya’s breathing was uneven.
“He grabbed for my phone. I dropped my bag and ran.”
“Stay with the officer,” Nora said. “Tell them everything you saw.”
“There’s something else.”
Elena opened her eyes.
“I recorded part of what happened in the garden. Before I called 911.”
Nobody spoke.
“I wasn’t trying to make a video. I’d been filming the table arrangements for my boss. Then I heard him.”
“Does Julian know?” Nora asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Keep the original. Don’t post it. We’ll help you preserve it properly.”
An hour later, Elena watched the recording.
She saw herself on the stones.
Heard herself say something was wrong.
Heard Julian answer that she wasn’t ruining the party.
The woman on the screen looked smaller than Elena remembered being.
Not weak.
Trapped.
She stopped the video before Chloe kicked the basket.
“That’s enough.”
Nora closed the laptop.
“It supports what you told the hospital. We’ll give it to the investigators with Maya’s statement.”
Outside, rain began tapping the window.
Gabriel stood beside the door, both hands clenched.
Elena looked at him.
“You can be angry.”
“I am.”
“You can’t make your anger my next problem.”
He nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
She wasn’t sure he did.
But he stayed.
That evening, a hospital social worker helped Elena discuss where she could safely go after discharge.
For the first time, the future had an address Julian didn’t know.
Then Nora’s phone rang.
She listened without speaking.
When she hung up, she pulled her chair closer.
“Julian hired a lawyer.”
“Good.”
“He’s claiming your father is coercing you.”
Elena gave a tired laugh.
Nora didn’t.
“He also claims you have a history of psychiatric instability.”
May you like
Elena stared.
“And he says he has the records to prove it.”
