“Come inside.”
“What is in that unit?”
“Please sit down.”
“What is in the unit, Marlene?”
She lowered herself onto the couch.
“Ethan’s things,” she finally said. “That’s all.”
“Why are they there?”
“Because you couldn’t bear to see them.”
“You never asked me.”
“You were falling apart,” she said. “You couldn’t even walk past his bedroom. I thought I was protecting you.”
I placed the key on her coffee table.
She stared at it.
“Ethan gave this to Ruth,” I said. “He hid it inside the rabbit. He wrote that you told him not to say anything.”
“That isn’t true.”
“Then why did he hide his message?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
I watched her carefully.
“The trust fund,” I said. “You told me it was completely gone. You said the medical bills had taken everything.”
“Diane…”
“Was that true?”
Marlene covered her face.
