Chapter 5: Served Before Dinner
Margaret called at 4:47 p.m.
"Diane Bennett was served eleven minutes ago at her condo.
The protective order is in effect.
She is legally prohibited from being within three hundred feet of Lily until the hearing."
I was sitting on my sister's back porch.
The afternoon was cold and gray, the kind of Chicago November that gets into your coat.
"How did she react?" I asked.
"The process server said she tried to close the door.
He got his foot in." A brief pause.
"She called him a name I won't repeat.
He noted it in his report."
"And Jason?"
"His attorney called my office at 4:15, before the papers even reached him.
Someone tipped him off." Margaret's voice was even.
"His attorney's name is Phil Garner.
I've gone against him four times.
I've won four times.
He knows that.
Which is why his first call was to ask whether there was any possibility of a settlement conversation."
"What did you tell him?"
"I told him my client would be happy to discuss settlement after the DCFS investigation concluded and after the criminal referral had been reviewed."
The line went quiet for a moment.
"Criminal referral?" I said.
"Dr.
Howard's mandatory report triggered an automatic referral to the Cook County State's Attorney's office for review of potential child endangerment charges against Diane Bennett." Margaret let that sit for a second.
"I did not manufacture that.
It is the standard process.
I simply made sure Phil Garner knew I was aware of it."
I exhaled slowly.
"He called back twenty minutes later," Margaret continued.
"He said Jason wants to talk to you directly.
No lawyers.
Just the two of you."
"No."
"That was my advice as well.
I told him all communication goes through me." A pause.
"But I want you prepared.
Jason will try to reach you tonight.
He may come to your sister's address.
He may send someone you trust.
He will be looking for a version of you that still wants to save the marriage."
I looked through the glass door at Lily, who had moved from the kitchen to the living room rug, arranging her crackers in a careful line.
"That version of me," I said, "was in his chair when Lily needed her."
"Good," Margaret said.
"Hold onto that."
She hung up.
Twenty minutes later, Jason rang my sister's doorbell.
My sister, Paula, answered.
I stood in the hallway behind her, out of sight.
"I need to talk to Emily," Jason said.
"She's not available," Paula said.
"Paula, please.
Five minutes.
I just need five minutes."
"Jason." Paula's voice was quiet but very clear.
"My niece has a bruise on her face the shape of your mother's hand.
You sat in a chair.
You don't get five minutes."
The door closed.
I heard his footsteps on the porch for a moment.
Then nothing.
Paula came back down the hallway.
She didn't say anything.
She just squeezed my arm as she passed.
I stood there until I was sure my legs were steady.
Then I went back to Lily.
---
At 9 p.m., a text arrived from a number I didn't have saved.
*Emily.
This is Richard Bennett.
Jason's father.
I know you have no reason to listen to me.
But I need you to know — I saw the livestream too.
I saw what Diane did.
I saw what Jason didn't do.
I am not calling to ask you to stop.
I am calling to tell you that whatever you decide, I think you are right.*
I read it three times.
Then I saved his number under: *Richard — Jason's father.
Keep.*
May you like
I had not known, in three years of marriage, that Richard Bennett was capable of that sentence.
I wondered what else I hadn't known.
