She and Keith don’t talk much any more. At home, things are strained. Oddly, she and Keith only seem like themselves when they’re out of the house, with other people. She thinks back to the previous Friday night when she and Keith had gone to the Sharpes’ for dinner. Maybe they’d overdone the drinking a bit themselves that night – letting themselves off the leash because Adam wasn’t there to see them, and they’d only had to walk to the next street to get home.
Olivia and Paul had been in good spirits. They hadn’t known then that their son was out breaking into houses. Olivia had made an excellent roast, and Glenda had drunk her wine and watched her still very handsome husband laughing with Paul, the two of them remembering some of the funny things that had happened over the years. It had been a great evening, like old times. If only they could turn back the clock.
Chapter Fifteen
OLIVIA WAITS UNTIL supper is cleaned up and Raleigh is in his room, plugged into his laptop with his headphones on, ostensibly doing homework. Paul is in the living room, glancing through the newspaper.
She stands quietly for a moment, watching him. She has to tell him.
She sits down near him on the sofa. Paul looks up from the paper. ‘We need to talk,’ Olivia says quietly.
Instantly a look of concern crosses his face. She doesn’t usually start with this kind of opening. It sounds ominous. It is ominous.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asks, also with a lowered voice.
‘There’s something I have to tell you, and you’re not going to like it.’ Now he looks alarmed. He waits, his eyes focused on her, alert. She says, ‘I don’t want Raleigh to hear this until we decide what we’re going to tell him.’
‘For Christ’s sake, Olivia, what is it? You’re scaring me.’
She takes a deep breath and says, ‘Last weekend, before we saw the lawyer, I wrote letters of apology to the people that live in the houses Raleigh broke into.’
He looks back at her, incredulous. ‘But you didn’t send them,’ he says emphatically.
She chews the inside of her cheek. ‘I did. I put identical anonymous letters through their mail slots.’
He stares back at her with his mouth open, in obvious disbelief. Then he sputters, ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I took Raleigh out in the car, when you were out golfing last Sunday, and made him show me the two houses he snuck into.’
‘And you didn’t tell me?’ he hisses at her, clearly furious.
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I knew you wouldn’t like it.’
‘Of course I don’t like it!’ His voice is rising. ‘I already told you that I thought an apology was a bad idea! And the lawyer agreed with me.’
‘I know. And I’m sorry. I did it before we saw the lawyer.’ She’s beginning to cry. ‘I thought it wouldn’t do any harm, and I thought some sort of apology should be made. There was nothing in the letter that would lead back to Raleigh.’
He looks at her in cold fury. ‘I don’t like that you went behind my back.’
‘I know,’ she says, almost as coldly. ‘And I’m sorry, but why should you get to make all the decisions? I don’t like it when you tell me what I can and cannot do.’ She feels furious with him suddenly. Why should he get to decide everything? Even though, this time, he was absolutely right. She’s still smarting because he overruled her the night before on the question of having Raleigh see a therapist. She takes a deep breath and exhales. ‘I made a mistake. You were right. I shouldn’t have done it. I feel awful about going behind your back. And I felt terrible about not telling you. We’ve never kept secrets from each other before. We’ve always been honest with each other.’
He turns away from her. ‘Let’s just hope this doesn’t jump up and bite us in the ass,’ he says. ‘How could you do this without talking to me? That’s not like you.’
Because you gave me no choice, Olivia wants to say, but she remains silent. A moment passes, but the tension between them doesn’t dissipate.
‘So why are you telling me this now?’ Paul asks testily, turning back to her again.
‘Because … there may be a problem.’
‘What problem?’ His voice is tense.
Olivia steels herself to tell him the next bit. ‘A woman came here today. Her name is Carmine something. She lives next door to Zoe, from book club.’ Olivia pauses, but then forces herself to go on. ‘Raleigh broke into her house. She’s been going around the neighbourhood, telling people about the break-in, and showing them the letter.’
‘You didn’t tell her the truth, did you?’ Paul glowers at her.
‘No, of course not!’
‘Well, that’s something,’ Paul snorts.
‘But she may have guessed.’
‘How?’
‘You know what I’m like!’ Olivia exclaims. ‘I can’t hide anything! I got really nervous. She asked me if I was okay. She could tell I was upset. Then she started asking if I had teenagers in the house. I’m worried that she may have figured it out.’
There’s a long, pained silence. Olivia can’t even look at her husband. She stares miserably at the floor instead.
‘Jesus,’ Paul mutters. ‘I can’t believe this.’ After a moment, he asks, ‘What was she like?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Is she the type to pursue this and press charges? Is she likely to come after him?’
‘I – I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, why was she going around knocking on doors in the first place?’ Olivia hears a sound and looks up; Paul looks up, too. She sees Raleigh standing in the living room doorway, looking tense.
‘Figured what out?’ Raleigh asks. ‘What’s going on?’
He looks anxiously at both of them. She glances at Paul. They have to tell him.
Raleigh asks, ‘Why are you crying, Mom? What’s happened?’
Olivia looks at her husband, gauging the situation; he’s already angry with her. They have no choice. She turns back to Raleigh. She hates the thought of Raleigh hearing about the letters, that he might be found out. He’ll blame her. He won’t take responsibility for his part in it, he’ll just blame her for the letters. She pulls herself together. This is what happens when you interfere, she thinks bleakly.
Raleigh slouches into an armchair, facing them on the sofa, his expression alarmed. ‘Am I going to be arrested?’
‘No,’ Olivia says.
‘We hope not,’ Paul clarifies, and Olivia sees the quick flash of fear in Raleigh’s eyes.
‘I didn’t take anything,’ Raleigh says quickly. ‘I’m never going to do it again. I swear.’
‘That’s what we hoped,’ Paul says. ‘But your mother here, against my express wishes, slipped apology letters through the mail slots of the houses you broke into.’
Raleigh turns to her in disbelief and obvious fear. ‘Why would you do that? The lawyer said—’
‘I know what the lawyer said,’ Olivia breaks in. ‘I did it before we saw the lawyer. I thought someone should apologize to these people and let them know that their computers had been hacked. I still think it was the morally right thing to do.’ Her voice has become defensive. ‘And the letters were anonymous – there was nothing in them that could lead to you, Raleigh.’