Chapter 6: The Things Eleanor Kept
Patricia's office was on the fourth floor of a building that smelled like old carpet and strong coffee and the particular seriousness of people who dealt in other people's worst days.
Evelyn sat across from her desk with Lily at a small table in the corner, working through a coloring book that Patricia's assistant had produced from a drawer with the practiced ease of someone who kept it there on purpose.
"He called you," Evelyn said.
"At eight forty-three this morning." Patricia set a printed call log on the desk between them.
"He didn't leave a message.
He called back at nine-oh-seven and spoke to my assistant.
He identified himself, said he was aware I had been in contact with his wife, and said he wanted to discuss the matter before it became adversarial."
"What did your assistant say?"
"She said I was in a meeting and offered to take a message." Patricia's expression didn't change.
"He said the message was that I should consider carefully before I involved myself in a private family matter.
She wrote it down word for word."
"He's trying to scare you off."
"He's trying to establish that I was warned.
It's a legal positioning move.
It means he's already talked to his own attorneys." Patricia opened a second folder.
"Which brings me to the NDA."
Evelyn had been waiting for this.
"He said it covers anything that happens inside the marriage.
Any disclosure."
"It does say that." Patricia turned the document around so Evelyn could see the relevant paragraph.
"What it does not cover — what no NDA can legally cover — is the reporting of a crjme.
The sl@p last night was witnessed by approximately forty people and recorded on video.
That is not a private family matter.
That is a criminal act in a public venue.
The NDA is unenforceable against a police report."
Evelyn read the paragraph twice.
"He knows that," she said.
"Yes.
He knows that.
Which means the NDA threat was not a legal strategy.
It was a fear strategy." Patricia leaned back.
"He wanted you to believe you had no options.
That's different from actually having no options."
"What about Diane?"
"Diane's NDA has the same clause.
I've already spoken to her attorney.
She is prepared to give a supporting statement if this goes to court." A pause.
"She was relieved when I called.
She said she'd been waiting two years for someone to call."
Lily looked up from her coloring book.
"Mommy, what color is a hummingbird?"
"Green," Evelyn said.
"And a little bit of red at the throat."
"Okay." Lily went back to her page.
Patricia watched the exchange.
Then she opened a third folder.
"There's something else," she said.
"Something I didn't mention last night because I wanted to verify it first."
Evelyn looked up.
"Eleanor Ashworth has a safety deposit box at a private bank in the city.
It has been maintained for eleven years." Patricia set a single sheet of paper on the desk.
"I know this because Rosalind — the woman who was engaged to Julian seven years ago — worked at that bank.
She left the position two years after the engagement ended.
Before she left, she made note of certain things."
"What kind of things?"
"Documents.
Photographs.
A handwritten letter." Patricia's voice was careful.
"Rosalind doesn't know the contents.
She only knows the box exists and that Eleanor visited it three times in the eighteen months after Rosalind's engagement to Julian ended.
She visited it once more, six weeks after Julian married you."
The coloring book rustled.
"Why would Eleanor keep documents in a private box?" Evelyn said.
"That is the question." Patricia folded her hands.
"One possibility is that she is protecting Julian.
Keeping things out of the family home in case of a legal search." She paused.
"The other possibility is that she is protecting herself.
From Julian."
Evelyn sat with that for a moment.
"You think she's afraid of him."
"I think it's possible she has been managing him for a very long time.
And that management requires insurance." Patricia looked at her steadily.
"Which means Eleanor Ashworth may know things about her son that she has never told anyone.
And she may be more reachable than she appears."
Outside the office window, the city moved in its ordinary way — traffic, pigeons, the distant sound of a siren going somewhere urgent.
"How do we get to her?" Evelyn said.
"We don't," Patricia said.
"Not yet.
Right now, we build what we have.
The recording.
The police report.
Diane's statement.
The pattern of behavior." She closed the folder.
"We build a case so strong that Eleanor has to make a choice.
And then we let her make it."
Evelyn's phone lit up on the desk between them.
Julian.
Calling.
She turned it face-down without answering.
Patricia's desk phone rang a moment later.
Her assistant's voice through the intercom: "Ms.
Hale — there's a woman in the lobby asking to speak with you.
May you like
She says she doesn't have an appointment.
She says her name is Eleanor Ashworth."
