The Good Father

And Ella had been protecting his secrets for so long...

“In cases like that, fear, either of retribution or of an inability to make it alone, is often what keeps someone there. And while it’s a horrible, criminal situation, it’s also sometimes easier to treat. Assuming you can get the victim safely away.”

Which was the purpose of their team.

Sara waited, as though allowing Ella time to continue. She’d already said too much.

“Cases like Chloe’s, in some ways, can be a lot tougher to help,” Sara continued after many seconds of silence had passed. “The bond of trust between your brother and his wife is still intact. Her sense of safety, while somewhat breached, has not been broken.”

Two sentences, and Ella’s perspective crystallized in a way she could grasp. Work with. “She’s not afraid of him.”

“She hasn’t built walls against him. More likely, at this stage, she’s trying to understand, to empathize, in an effort to be able to help him herself.”

“She makes excuses for him.”

“That’s her way of trying to make sense out of something she doesn’t understand. She’s trying to find a way to justify actions that are out of character without accepting that maybe the man she fell in love with has changed.”

“Is that what you think? That the Jeff we all know and love has suddenly become a monster?” She blurted out the words without stopping to consider how she sounded.

“No.” Sara’s quick covering of Ella’s hand brought her back to the current situation. They were there to help Chloe.

“I’m only saying that Chloe is probably too confused to be able to act rationally at the moment. Her head tells her one thing while her heart is telling her another.”

“I do agree with that.” Which was why Ella was living second to second, always worrying that she’d get a call at work telling her that Chloe was on a bus back to Palm Desert.

“Good, because you need to understand her struggle to be able to deal well with what else I have to tell you.”

Her chin fell. “What?” Was Chloe gone already? Was that why Sara asked for this chat? Had Chloe said something at lunch that day? Or not shown up at the Stand at all?

“Our residents’ cell phones are taken away when they arrive at the Stand,” she said. “They’re kept at the local precinct...”

Just in case, Ella surmised, based on what she’d read, but also on what she’d heard that day. The police would need to be able to listen to messages. And wouldn’t want them traced to the Stand, either.

“Every resident is given the option of having a prepaid cell while she’s with us. They aren’t prisoners, and if they have other loved ones who can help them once they resume their lives, we find that it helps for them to be in contact during the recovery process...”

Ella hadn’t known that. It made sense. But what did it have to do with Chloe?

“Our residents are made aware of the danger of being in touch with their abusers during their recovery process. If he continues to control her mind, she’ll never heal. If he reminds her of who she was, fills her head with ‘abuse talk,’—you know, telling her it’s her fault, or reminding her that if she leaves him she’ll have nothing, she’ll lose everything...”

Ella nodded, familiar with the material.

“Because of their heightened awareness, a couple of the women who work with Chloe in the kitchen came to me this morning. They said that Chloe’s husband has been calling her.”

“I know they’re in touch. But only occasionally. They still have bills to pay and responsibilities to tend to. For now no one else knows that Chloe’s left him.”

“He called her four times in two hours yesterday. I made it a point to be busy in the kitchen this morning and witnessed three calls myself.”

Ella and Chloe had played cards last night after Cody went to bed. Her sister-in-law hadn’t said a word about speaking to Jeff.

“You’re sure it was Jeff?”

“Positive. She called him by name the first time. And ended all three conversations with ‘I love you, too, babe.’”

Babe. Chloe had always called Jeff that. A term of endearment Ella had always liked.

She didn’t now.

Chloe was lying to her. Not uncommon in domestic-violence situations, but still, Ella was hurt.