Chapter 5: What Tyler Had Been Told to Do
The social worker arrived at two.
Ms.
Greene sat across from me at the dining table while the stain from the birthday cake still marked the carpet.
“Mark says you blamed Tyler for your fall,” she said.
“I blamed the rubber snake beside the stairs.”
“Did you threaten him afterward?”
“No.”
Mark stepped into the room.
“She shouted that he could have caused a terrible accident.”
“That isn’t a threat,” Carol said.
Ms.
Greene raised one hand.
“I need everyone to speak separately.”
“I’m her son,” Mark replied.
“She needs me here.”
“This is still my house,” I said.
“Wait in the hall.”
His eyes narrowed, but Ms.
Greene pointed toward the door.
Mark left it open behind him.
Tyler entered next.
His shoulders were bent, and he kept pulling at one sleeve.
“Did your grandmother frighten you last night?” Ms.
Greene asked.
Tyler looked toward the open doorway.
“Dad says she isn’t acting normal.”
“I asked what you think.”
Mark’s voice came from the hall.
“Tell the truth, Tyler.”
Ms.
Greene closed the door.
Tyler stared at the cake stain.
“Grandma said we had to leave.”
“Did she threaten to hurt you?”
“No.”
“Did she ever forget where her keys were?”
He rubbed both palms against his jeans.
“Yes.”
I felt Carol’s hand touch the back of my chair.
Tyler swallowed.
“Because I moved them.”
“Why?” Ms.
Greene asked.
“At first it was jokes.
Then Dad told me to keep doing things.”
My chair creaked beneath me.
“Your father told you?”
“He said you needed to understand you couldn’t live alone.
He said if you got upset, I should record it.”
The room blurred behind my glasses.
Tyler looked directly at me, and his next words landed harder than the cake.
“He said if we made you seem confused, the house would stay in the family.”
I pushed my chair back.
“You all watched me search.
You watched me doubt myself.”
“Grandma—”
“I defended you.”
Tyler began crying.
“I know.”
“You let me believe age was taking pieces of me.”
“I’m sorry.”
The old words filled the room, but this time Tyler took his phone from his pocket and placed it in front of me.
“Don’t forgive me yet,” he said.
“Just take this.”
Mark opened the door.
“What are you doing?”
Tyler slid the phone toward Ms.
Greene.
“Dad texted me instructions.”
Mark crossed the room in three steps and grabbed it.
“He is a minor.
You cannot search this.”
Ms.
Greene stood.
“Give him back his phone.”
Mark threw it onto the tiled hearth.
The screen cracked, and Tyler cried out.
Carol lifted her own phone.
“I recorded that too.”
“You record everything?” Mark shouted.
“Only when someone keeps proving why I should.”
Tyler wiped his face with his sleeve.
“It doesn’t matter.
My messages back up to Mom’s tablet.”
Mark froze.
“Where is the tablet?” Ms.
Greene asked.
Tyler looked at his father.
“Mom took it when she left.”
Mark caught his arm.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“Let him go,” I said.
“He’s my son.”
“And he just asked you to release him.”
Mark dropped Tyler’s arm.
Ms.
Greene stepped between them and told Mark to leave the room.
At the front door, Mark turned toward me.
“If you use those messages in court, I’ll make sure Tyler knows you chose a house over him.”
Tyler stood beside me, still crying.
“No, Dad,” he said.
“You chose the house over all of us.”
Mark walked out and slammed the door.
A moment later, Tyler’s damaged phone lit up on the floor with a message from Lisa.
May you like
It contained only five words.
MARK KNOWS I HAVE THE RECORDING.
