Chapter 16 - Maude says she loved me
During deposition, Maude finally said it.
“I loved him.”
Her lawyer tried to stop.
She continued.
“I knew Evelyn was alive.”
“When?”
“Two days after the hospital reported death.”
“Why didn’t you tell Merrick?”
“Because I thought she would leave anyway.”
That made no sense.
Then:
“Why tell Evelyn Merrick rejected her?”
“She was frightened of him.”
“Before or after you told her he blamed her?”
Silence.
Then:
“I thought they were toxic together.”
Had I abused Evelyn?
No.
Evelyn testified:
I was controlling sometimes.
Protective to a fault.
Emotionally difficult.
But not violent toward her.
No domestic-abuse record.
Maude used my reputation to create a danger Evelyn had not previously experienced.
Then Maude said:
“I thought eventually he would move on.”
Did I?
Not toward Maude.
That was the irony.
May you like
We had never been lovers.
She had destroyed a marriage for a possibility.
