Chapter 8 - Margaret’s Statement
Margaret had signed a declaration.
That hurt more than I expected.
I had known she protected Ethan.
I had not known she had put her name to his story.
Her draft statement described my father as:
“intimidating.”
“volatile.”
“fixated on the marriage.”
She wrote:
On several occasions I observed Colonel Hayes attempt to dominate my son and daughter-in-law through threats and military-style intimidation.
Investigators asked:
“What threats?”
Margaret cited one.
Thanksgiving.
Dad and Ethan argued over politics at dinner.
Dad said:
“I’m done listening to this.”
Ethan said:
“Then leave.”
Dad stood.
Pointed toward him.
And said:
“If Emily ever calls me scared, you will deal with me.”
That sentence sounded terrible on paper.
I remembered the night.
Two days earlier, Ethan had grabbed my arm hard enough to leave finger marks.
Dad noticed.
I said I had bumped into a doorframe.
He did not believe me.
His Thanksgiving statement had not appeared from nowhere.
Margaret knew that.
May you like
She had seen the marks too.
She removed them from her declaration.
