Chapter 12: Conditions
The weeks that followed were defined by conditions rather than confrontations.
Garrick stayed in custody. The protective order remained in force. Discovery moved in both directions—his counsel probing for inconsistency, the prosecution reinforcing the sequence of threats, injuries, and the firearm. Ethan’s parallel review on the additional weapons stayed open but quiet; nothing in it required my mother to carry extra weight.
Clara began sleeping through the night more often. The change was gradual. She still startled at sudden noises and still checked the locks more than once, but the constant calculation of his mood had lifted. On good days she spoke about practical things—lease options, a part-time bookkeeping job a friend had mentioned, the possibility of a permanent address that did not exist on any map Garrick had ever used.
I did not push her toward recovery narratives.
I kept the file current, attended the dates that required my presence, and left the rest to the process.
One evening she asked, without looking at me, whether I thought he still believed he could get everything back.
May you like
“I think he believes the story should work the way it used to,” I said. “The story doesn’t run the case anymore.”
She accepted that in silence.
