Chapter 3 - MATTHEW NEVER LEFT
“He did, Audrey. I know you want him to be better than he is, but he did.”
Roy got on the phone next.
Cold.
“If your brother contacts you asking for money, do not send it. He’s in trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“The kind he chose.”
A week later, Carol and Roy filed for guardianship.
They claimed Matthew had abandoned Lily.
Audrey challenged it at first.
She drove to Hartsboro.
Searched Matthew’s apartment.
Called his friends.
Checked hospitals.
Police told her adults could disappear if they wished.
Carol showed texts supposedly from Matthew.
I need to get clean.
Don’t look for me.
Lily is better with Mom.
Tell Audrey I’m sorry.
Audrey did not fully believe them.
But she did not have proof.
That failure became a permanent bruise.
Carol and Roy became Lily’s legal guardians.
Audrey visited often at first.
Then less.
Not because she stopped caring.
Because Carol managed access like a ration.
Lily was “sick.”
Lily was “at a church event.”
Lily was “having attachment issues and needed stability.”
Roy said Audrey’s visits made Lily ask too many questions about Matthew.
Carol said, “If you love her, stop confusing her.”
Audrey hated that sentence.
Still, she worked within the system.
Sent clothes.
Sent gift cards.
Paid for school supplies.
Transferred money monthly into an account Carol said was used for Lily’s food, therapy, and medical needs.
She asked for receipts.
Carol sent vague photos.
A grocery bag.
A winter coat.
A dentist bill.
Audrey knew better than to accept incomplete documentation.
She was a forensic accountant.
But this was family.
That was the danger.
Family makes professionals act like amateurs because no one wants to audit their own mother.
Then Lily called.
The cracked pink flip phone had belonged to Jenna.
Matthew had kept it charged for Lily because it still contained old photos and one voicemail of Jenna saying, “Hi, baby bird.”
Carol said the phone was lost years ago.
It was not.
Lily found it in a box behind the laundry room.
The battery barely held charge.
The screen cracked.
But one number still worked because Audrey had kept her old line.
The first call came during a storm so loud Audrey almost missed it.
Unknown number.
Then a tiny voice.
“Aunt Audrey?”
Audrey sat up from her desk.
“Lily?”
The line crackled.
“I’m hungry.”
Audrey’s body went cold.
“Where are Grandma and Grandpa?”
“In the living room.”
“Did you eat dinner?”
“Grandma said tomorrow.”
“What did you eat today?”
A pause.
“Crackers.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
Audrey stood.
“Where are the groceries I sent?”
“I don’t know.”
Thunder cracked through the line.
Then Lily whispered, “The fridge is empty again.”
Again.
The word moved through Audrey like a blade.
“Are you safe right now?”
Lily’s breathing shook.
“I’m not supposed to call.”
“Did someone hurt you?”
“No.”
Another pause.
“Grandpa said if I tell, he’ll send me where Daddy went.”
Audrey grabbed her keys.
“Listen to me, Lily. I’m coming now.”
“It’s storming.”
“I know.”
“Grandma says roads kill people.”
Audrey closed her eyes.
That sounded like Carol.
Fear dressed as wisdom.
“I’m coming anyway. Stay away from them if you can. Keep the phone hidden.”
Lily whispered, “Okay.”
Audrey drove through ninety minutes of violent rain, flooded roads, flashing hazard lights, and every memory she had tried to organize into survivable categories.
By the time she reached the Nichols house, her hair was soaked, her black jacket plastered to her body, and her hands were shaking not from cold but from restraint.
She found the front door unlocked.
The kitchen light on.
Lily standing near the table in thin pajamas, clutching the pink phone.
Carol and Roy arguing near the pantry.
The refrigerator empty.
The pantry padlocked.
A plate of eggs Audrey made in the first two minutes after entering because Lily’s hands shook when she saw food.
Then Carol hit her.
May you like
Now the phone in Audrey’s hand carried Matthew’s voice.
Audrey’s knees nearly buckled.
