Page 45 of For Your Own Good

Sonia doesn’t believe a word of it. Not. One. Single. Word.

While dinner is in the oven, she slices up some cheese and takes out a few crackers for a little snack before her meal. She almost has the first bite in her mouth when the phone rings. She recognizes the number but doesn’t answer.

Before listening to the voicemail, she eats two crackers with cheese. Newly fortified, she plays the message.

“Mrs.Benjamin, I’m calling for Jeffrey Brewster. Mr.Brewster has finalized the witness list, and your name is on it. Once the trial begins, we will let you know what day you will be needed to testify. I’ll give you a call soon to review your testimony. Please let me know if you have any questions.”

Sonia hitsdelete.

Half the teachers at Belmont were put on the preliminary witness list. That was normal, they were told. The list always has more names than are needed. Everyone was preinterviewed and prepped, just in case. But now, Sonia will have to get up on that stand, swear on the Bible, and testify.

For the prosecution.

30

FRANK DOESN’T WANTto see the news, hear the news, or even talk about the news, but when he gets home from work, his wife is watching it on TV.

“That poor girl,” she says.

“Yeah.” He drops his bag and heads into the bathroom, where he shuts the door and turns on the water. It’s the only place he can’t hear the TV.

A minute later, Missy knocks on the door. “Honey?”

“Yeah?”

“We’re having spaghetti tonight. It’ll be done in about half an hour.”

He already smelled the sauce. The onions, tomatoes, and garlic made his stomach flip-flop as soon as he walked in the door. “Great. Be out in a minute.”

When he returns to the family room, little Frankie is playing on the floor with plastic cars, crashing them together, over and over and over again. The noise is maddening.

“Stop that,” he says to Frankie.

Frankie does. For a minute.

The news is still on, and Courtney’s picture stares back at him. It’s the same one they’ve been showing on all the TV stations. The picture, taken from her social media account, shows her outside with friends, but they’ve been cut out. It’s just Courtney, posing for the camera, her hip stuck out and her skirt just short enough to raise a few eyebrows.

Horrible. It’s all so horrible.

For the rest of the evening, he stumbles through the motions. Eat the spaghetti, give Frankie a bath, put him to bed, go back out to the family room for quality time with Missy. Tonight, it revolves around an episode ofBosch, followed by more news.

“Coming to bed?” Missy says.

“Soon.”

“Okay.”

“You know what?” he says. “I think I’m going out for a drive.”

“A drive? Now?”

“It’s all this stuff about the school.” He waves his hand toward the TV. “It’s just... I just need to get out for a minute.”

Missy gives him a sad look, and it’s almost more than he can bear. “Okay. I understand.”

She always understands. It makes everything so much worse.

Frank does get in his car and drive. He goes straight to church.