Chapter 7: The Offer
Phil Garner called Margaret on Thursday morning with a formal settlement proposal.
Margaret read it to me over the phone, her voice entirely flat.
Jason would agree to a legal separation — not a divorce.
He would agree to supervised visitation for Diane, meaning she could see Lily only with Jason present, in a pre-approved location, with no physical contact.
He would agree to family counseling.
He would agree to a financial arrangement that gave me the apartment and a monthly support figure that was, Margaret noted, twenty-two percent below what she intended to request.
In exchange, I would withdraw all cooperation from the DCFS investigation.
I would request that the State's Attorney's office close its review.
I would sign a non-disclosure agreement preventing me from discussing the events of the birthday dinner with anyone outside of immediate family.
I listened to the whole thing.
"He wants me to protect her," I said.
"Yes."
"After what she did to Lily."
"Yes."
"And he's offering me money to do it."
"That is the structure of the proposal."
I thought about Diane's voice on the recording.
*I'm not worried about Emily.
She won't do anything.
She never does.*
"Tell Phil Garner no," I said.
"Tell him the answer is no, and that if he calls with another version of this proposal, I will add the settlement offer itself to the evidence file as proof of consciousness of guilt."
A pause.
"I'll tell him," Margaret said.
I could hear something in her voice that was almost satisfaction.
"There's one more thing.
Jason called my office directly this morning.
Not Phil.
Jason himself."
"What did he say?"
"He asked to speak with you.
He said — and I'm reading from my assistant's notes — 'Tell Emily I know I was wrong.
Tell her I know what I did.
Tell her I just need one chance to say it to her face.'"
The room was quiet.
"Do you want to hear him out?" Margaret asked.
I thought about the fork.
The steak on the tines.
The way his eyes had dropped to his phone.
"No," I said.
"All right."
"Not yet," I said.
"Not until the investigation is finished.
Not until Lily is protected by something stronger than his word."
"That's wise," Margaret said.
"It's not wisdom," I said.
"It's just that I've heard his words before."
---
That afternoon, Brooke called Paula's house from a number I didn't recognize.
Paula answered before I could stop her.
I heard Brooke's voice from across the room.
"I need to talk to Emily.
Tell her it's important.
Tell her I have something she needs to hear."
Paula looked at me.
I shook my head.
"She's not available," Paula said.
"Paula, I'm serious.
There are things about Emily that people are going to find out.
Things that are going to make her look very bad in court.
I'm trying to help her."
Paula's voice didn't change.
"Then you can tell her attorney."
She hung up.
I texted Margaret immediately.
Her reply came back in three minutes.
*Brooke Bennett just attempted to contact you through a third party with a veiled threat about damaging information.
Noted.
If she contacts you again through any channel, do not respond.
Forward everything to me.*
Then, a second message.
*Also: if she had damaging information, she would have led with it.
She doesn't.
She's frightened.*
I set my phone down.
For the first time since the birthday dinner, I felt something shift in my chest.
Not relief.
Not victory.
Just the quiet, steady knowledge that I was no longer the only person in the room who understood what was happening.
---
That night, Lily slept through without waking.
I lay in the dark beside her and listened to her breathe.
My phone lit up once.
A text from Richard Bennett.
*Phil told Jason about the recording.
Jason didn't know about the livestream.
He didn't know what his mother said before it happened.* A pause in the message thread.
Then: *He's not taking it well.*
I read it twice.
Then I put the phone face-down and closed my eyes.
May you like
Whatever Jason was feeling tonight, he could feel it.
Lily had felt it first.
