Well Behaved Wives(89)

Ruth knew that Carrie had no chance unless they all stood by this story.

Lillian took Carrie’s chin in her hand and lifted it so that Carrie had to look directly into her eyes. “Listen, Carrie. You were in the kitchen having coffee with your friends. Eli fell and hit his head before any of us even knew he was home. Remember?”

Carrie looked like she didn’t know what to say.

“Do you hear me, Carrie?” Lillian’s tone was even and unwavering. The etiquette maven was setting new rules, a new world order. For their little world, anyway.

Carrie hesitated, then nodded slightly. Lillian cocked her head. Carrie’s nod got stronger, definite.

Ruth lifted the receiver and dialed emergency services, crossing her fingers behind her back so the others couldn’t see. She prayed for strength for them all. They’d need all the help they could get.

There were different kinds of justice, she realized.





Chapter 31


LILLIAN

Lillian had no experience with the police, so she sat in Carrie’s living room, wringing her hands, waiting her turn to be questioned and hoping her distress would be enough to convince the police of their story. Until they took her into the kitchen for official questioning, Lillian would keep quiet.

The irony of elective silence wasn’t lost on her.

She’d strived to speak up to Peter and the girls. She worked to express herself regarding her parents. Now Lillian had chosen to keep quiet about what happened to Carrie and then Eli.

Maybe that was the difference. Choice.

Lillian used to believe she’d chosen the role of strong, silent housewife. In truth, she hadn’t looked for anything else, for other ways to be. It had seemed ideal.

She’d found patterns easy to follow, until she lived her life by rote and found herself overlooked and undervalued.

It wasn’t all Peter’s fault. She’d allowed it. She gave up her choices because she’d never stopped to realize she had them. Carrie had surrendered her choices to a man who turned out to be brutal. The same had happened to Anna. Those women never suspected the men they loved would hurt them.

But Lillian had more choice than she gave herself credit for because of who she’d married. Now she had to trust herself, and Peter’s love for her, and become the woman she wanted to be—and the mother she wanted to be.

As she sat in the living room, she watched the firemen moving in an orderly way around the house. They’d done this sort of thing before. They had a protocol to follow. Lillian and her friends had no such rules to guide them through a situation like this. But at least they had each other.

Real women were not a chain of cutout paper dolls, as some would have people believe. Each one was different, special, unique—whether they were in trouble or, like Lillian, just finding their way. There needed to be a way to protect the Carries and Annas of the world, to protect their children, like Lillian and Carrie’s unborn baby.

Firemen carried Eli’s body past gawking neighbors out on the street. At least the rain had stopped.

As soon as the firemen removed Eli’s body, Lillian heaved a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he was gone. She felt compelled to open a window, letting the damp air’s melancholy chill cleanse the room. For a moment, the truth of all that brutality was whisked away on a sheer breeze. Consequences, and perhaps nightmares, would come later, but for now they needed air to breathe.

The police led the women, one by one, into the kitchen to be questioned. So far, everyone had been released from the interrogation spot back into the front yard, including Carrie. No one had been arrested, so Lillian hoped that meant everyone had stuck to Ruth’s plan and that it was working. Unless the police had additional inquiries up their sleeves.

“Lillian Diamond?” the officer asked, even though she was the only one left.

The detective indicated a kitchen chair and Lillian sat down. She knew she was strong, that she could toe the line when needed, but she’d never been challenged in quite this way. Never when a murder was involved.

She was expert in the truth—in hiding it, telling it, using half-truths—whichever would further what she needed. Right now, she faced the ultimate test of her grace. She prayed she wouldn’t turn into Humpty-Dumpty. Wouldn’t slip and break by speaking the wrong truth. In Carrie’s case, the whole truth put them all at risk. Details of Eli’s death would remain secret—unless Lillian cracked.

The weight of what happened, and the question of what would happen next, sat squarely on her chest.

The policeman got right to the point. “Mrs. Diamond, when did you become aware that Mr. Blum was home?”

As Lillian took in a breath, she was certain of one thing: Carrie was better off without Eli. Holding the scales of justice in her hands, Lillian wouldn’t risk Carrie’s future—any of their futures—by telling the truth. She owed it to her mother.

When Lillian was released, she went outside to the yard and found the Diamond Girls whispering in one corner. She walked over to Shirley and nodded toward Carrie.

“What happens now?” she whispered. “She can’t stay here.”

Shirley glanced toward Carrie and then back at Lillian. “Actually, we’ll help Carrie go wherever she wants. Our job is to get her somewhere safe, and technically, we’ve done that.”

“We can’t leave her to fend for herself!” Lillian swooped in with unexpected maternal verve, and she could tell by the look on Shirley’s face that her friend was surprised by it.