“Please just listen. What did Dad tell you about what happened to Mom?” Owen asked.
“That it was just an accident, that’s all. Your mom was a very brave woman. All those years with MS. And then when she began to deteriorate…looking after you guys, doing her work. She sounds like she was an amazing person.”
“What did Dad tell you exactly about the accident?” Owen asked.
Heather began to feel cold again.
“What he told everyone. He found her. She fell down the stairs. She’d been unsteady on her feet.”
“He left out the bit about the drinking?”
Heather nodded. “Yes…well, no, he told me the truth eventually. I don’t blame your mom. I’d drink too if I got diagnosed with something like that. It’s not her fault. She was a good mom and she was trying to cope.”
“My mom didn’t drink. Not heavily. And she didn’t commit suicide either.”
“I know, sweetie! Those are just rumors. People are going to say awful things.”
“He’s the one who said the awful things. He started those rumors. He wanted people to think that she was drinking too much and that she was suicidal.”
“No, that’s—” Heather began but Owen waved her off.
“Mom wasn’t that like that,” Owen said. “It was him…”
“Him what?” Olivia asked.
“All those rumors about maybe she did it on purpose or was drunk—it’s all lies Dad invented,” Owen said.
“Tom wouldn’t do that,” Heather said.
Owen took Heather’s hand. “I was there,” he said.
“When?”
“I blocked it out with my wall. A big wall. The biggest. And I guess the Valium helped too,” Owen said.
“What happened, Owen?” Olivia asked.
“It’s still not completely clear, but it’s coming back…I was supposed to be at gym. But I hate gym and I got a nurse’s note to be excused and I just went home. It’s only a five-minute walk from the school.”
“You were there?” Olivia said, stunned.
Owen nodded. “I think so. No, I know so. I was there. Mom and Dad weren’t home when I got back and it wasn’t Maria’s day, so no one knew I was there. I was in my room playing Mario Kart when I heard Dad and Mom come in. I didn’t want Dad to know I was skipping gym and school, so I hid in my room.”
Olivia was shaking her head.
“It’s true!” Owen insisted. “Dad and Mom were arguing about something. She came up the stairs. It took her ages to get up the stairs. She was crying. I was going to go out and hug her but Dad came up after her. He was the one that was drinking. It was his whiskey glass they found at the bottom of the stairs.”
“What happened, Owen?” Olivia asked.
“Mom had found out about some woman Dad was seeing. They were arguing. She was so angry. She told him that this time, she was serious. This new girl was the final straw. When they divorced, he wouldn’t get a penny. She would ruin him. She would tell Granddad, and Granddad would fix him…”
Heather put her arms around Owen as he began to sob. Olivia held both his hands.
“What happened, Owen?” Olivia asked.
“I think Mom said that Dad would have to pay back the money Granddad had given him for medical school. Dad was laughing at her. I was peeking through a door. She went to hit him and she lost her balance and she fell down the stairs. I saw everything.”
“Oh my God,” Olivia said.
Heather was shaking her head. “Tom wasn’t home—”
“He was! And he’s a doctor, he could have saved her, I think, but he didn’t even try. He stood there looking at her. He didn’t help. And I didn’t either. I hid there. I didn’t help Mom. I didn’t say anything. I hid there and I built my wall. And Dad said he found her like that when he got home, and that wasn’t true. And then the ambulance came. And Olivia came home. And I was able to pretend I had just come home too. And Dad called Grandma. And she came. And they took Mom away. And I hid behind my wall. And everything got blurry. And I was able to pretend it had never happened.”
Heather was crying now.
She believed Owen.
Tom wasn’t guilty of murder. He probably wasn’t even guilty of manslaughter. Perhaps he could have done something to save her; they would never know. From his hiding place in his room, Owen couldn’t possibly have seen what Tom did when he eventually went down the stairs. Maybe she’d been killed instantly. Maybe all Tom had done wrong, really, was lie about what happened.