“Do you want to press charges?” Pedone asked.
Colleen gave it some thought. She knew it was going to be a nightmare going forward, but she also knew that the marriage was over, and she could be putting herself and Jackson in further jeopardy by pretending it hadn’t happened. Besides, she just didn’t care anymore. Not about Mitchel. Not about the marriage. The only thing she cared about was raising her son in a loving environment. And this certainly wasn’t it.
“Yes. What do I have to do?”
“You’ll have to come down to the station to file a formal complaint. Is there anyone who can look after your son?”
“I’ll call my mother. She lives about fifteen minutes away.”
She dialed her mother’s phone number, knowing the woman would panic at her phone ringing in the middle of the night.
“Yes! Colleen! Is everything OK?” She could barely catch her breath.
“I’m OK. Jackson is OK.” Colleen took in a big inhale. “We have a situation here, and I need you to come by and sit with Jackson for the rest of the night.”
“What on earth is going on?” Judith Griffin demanded.
“Mom, I’ll explain everything later. Can you come over now? Please?” Colleen knew her mother had never approved of Mitchel, and she wasn’t in any sort of mood to be lectured.
“Yes. Of course. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” She sounded a bit exasperated rather than inconvenienced.
Colleen thought to herself, If she hadn’t been so controlling, maybe I wouldn’t have rebelled and married that creep.
“Thank you. And don’t freak out when you see the police car.” Colleen cringed, waiting for the interrogation.
“What police car? What are you talking about?” Judith was incredulous.
“Mother, please. Just come over. I will tell you everything later. Please!”
Chapter Three
Ellie felt terrible that she couldn’t befriend Colleen. She knew that things were bad at the Haywood house. She thought back to the incident that had taken place two weeks before. The entire block couldn’t help but notice the commotion coming from the house that night. Ellie had headed to the second-floor loft, with Buddy hot on her heels. She pulled out a pair of binoculars to see if she could figure out what the ruckus was all about. She crouched down and pointed the lens at the Haywoods’. From her angle, she could see someone in the back seat of a police car. His face was obscured by the door frame, but it looked like it could be Mitchel. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was. After his rude display that morning, no one would have been shocked. Screaming at his kid while he was in his underwear. She felt sorry for both Jackson and Colleen. She knew very well what it was like to be terrified.
The police car had been sitting in front for almost an hour when she noticed the BMW that Colleen’s mother drove turn into their driveway. She saw Colleen’s mother exit her car and peer into the police car. Judith Griffin gave the man in the back seat a disgusted look and went into the house. A few minutes later, Colleen and two police officers exited. Colleen got in her own car and followed the police. Ellie assumed they were on their way to the police station and that Mrs. Griffin was looking after Jackson. That poor kid, she thought to herself. Ellie liked Jackson, even though they had never interacted, but she could tell a lot about his character by the way he played with Buddy.
* * *
Over the next two weeks, there had been no mention of the incident in the local Patch, but maybe they were trying to keep it quiet for Colleen and Jackson’s sakes. Kids could be horribly cruel.
Ellie imagined that Jackson and Colleen were going through an exceedingly difficult time. Even though there was little she could do to help them, she felt good that Jackson came by every afternoon. He would spend well over an hour just throwing the ball across the yard and giving Buddy a pat on the head when Buddy jumped up on the fence with the ball in his mouth, returning it to Jackson. Ellie would watch from inside, happy that two innocent creatures could give each other so much pleasure with the simple gesture of throwing a ball. How she missed the outdoors.
One afternoon, her doorbell rang, and she gasped with fear. She checked the closed-circuit security camera and noticed a small bouquet of flowers on the doorstep. She thought it could be a trick, so she left them there. She figured Hector would bring them inside the porch later that day.
The next afternoon, she noticed that Jackson didn’t come by to play with Buddy. She didn’t know if she should call Colleen or not. She didn’t want to be a busybody, but Buddy was pacing the yard. She decided to call—something she rarely did. She went up to her office, Googled Colleen Haywood, and found her phone number. Luckily, they had a landline, but that was pretty standard for Hibbing. It was a rural town with not a whole lot of good cell service. She picked up one of her burner phones and dialed.
A hesitant “Hello” came in response. It was Jackson. “Hey, Jackson. This is Buddy’s mom. How are you doing?”
Jackson hesitated. He didn’t know what to make of this unfamiliar voice over the phone. “Hhh . . . hello?”
Ellie repeated. “Hey, Jackson. This is Ellie Bowman. You know, the lady who owns Buddy, the dog.” She wasn’t used to speaking to people she actually knew, except for Kara and her mom. Most of the interaction she had with people was for work, over an Internet connection—one computer talking to another.
“Oh, hi. Let me go get my mom.” Jackson quickly put the phone down and yelled for his mother. “Mom! It’s that lady down the street. Buddy’s owner.” He sounded a bit unhinged.
Ellie could hear footsteps moving closer to the phone.
“Yes?” Colleen sounded a bit terse. “What can I do for you?”
“Hi. I was just checking on Jackson. Buddy has been pacing the yard. Is everything OK?”
“Well, to be perfectly honest, Jackson’s feelings were hurt when he saw you left the flowers on the front porch. He wrote a note thanking you for letting him play with Buddy. He didn’t think he was welcome anymore.”
“Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I had no idea!” Ellie was mortified that she had hurt the little guy’s feelings.
“Yes, well, when he was leaving for school this morning, he saw that they were still there on the front porch. He said he rang the bell yesterday when he left them.”
“I am so sorry. I was up in my loft on a tech call for several hours and forgot about the doorbell. Ellie was getting particularly good at lying and covering her tracks. In fact, she was almost a genius at it by that point. “That was so sweet and kind of him. May I apologize to him, please?”
Ellie heard Colleen hand the phone over to Jackson, and whisper, “She wants to apologize. Here.”
“Hello?” Jackson was still uncertain.
“Jackson. Thank you for the flowers. I apologize for not picking them up. I was working upstairs when the doorbell rang, and I was on the computer with a client for a few hours. By the time I finished the session, I had completely forgotten that the doorbell rang. Can you please forgive me? I know Buddy missed you today.”
“Oh, sure, Ms. Bowman. That’s OK. I kinda felt a little goofy after I left them.”
“Oh, no, you were not at all goofy. That was truly kind.” Ellie smiled into the phone.