Chapter 6: The Woman Who Called Herself a Witness
I didn't wake Ryan.
I memorized the number and set his phone back face-down on the table.
In the morning I told him.
He stared at the message for a long time, then called Detective Reyes.
She told him not to respond and said she'd look into the number.
By afternoon, she called back.
"The number belongs to a woman named Carla Simms," she said.
"Do you know that name?"
Ryan shook his head at me.
I shook mine back.
"She's a former colleague of your mother-in-law's," Detective Reyes said.
"They worked together at a property management company about eight years ago.
Ms.
Simms has contacted our office as well.
She says she has information about Emily."
"What kind of information?" Ryan asked.
"She hasn't been specific.
She's requested a meeting." A pause.
"I want to be straightforward with you.
This is a tactic.
When a suspect's attorney can't attack the evidence, they attack the victim's credibility.
Ms.
Simms may have been coached."
"Or she may actually have something," I said.
"Yes," Detective Reyes said.
"Which is why I'm telling you now rather than letting it surface later.
Is there anything in your past, Mrs.
Callahan — anything at all — that your mother-in-law might try to use?"
I thought about it honestly.
"I had a difficult few years in my mid-twenties," I said.
"I moved around a lot.
I had a relationship that ended badly.
Nothing criminal.
Nothing that would — " I stopped.
"She wouldn't know about any of that."
"Are you certain?"
I wasn't.
I realized I wasn't certain at all.
After the call, Ryan sat on the edge of my bed.
"Emily.
Is there something I should know?"
"There's nothing that changes what she did."
"That's not what I asked."
I looked at him.
He looked back.
Not with suspicion — with the careful face of a man who needed to know what he was walking into.
"When I was twenty-four," I said, "I was in a relationship with someone who was not a good person.
It lasted about eighteen months.
When I ended it, he made things difficult for a while.
There were some incidents.
Nothing that went to court.
But there were police reports." I paused.
"His name was Daniel Marsh.
If Margaret found him — if she went looking — "
Ryan was very still.
"She could paint a picture," I said.
"Not an accurate one.
But a picture."
"How long have you known about this risk?"
"I've always known it existed.
I didn't think she would go this far."
He stood up.
Walked to the window.
I watched his back and waited.
"Ryan."
He turned around.
"I should have told you about Daniel before now.
That's on me.
But everything I've told you about that kitchen — about that bottle — is true.
You saw the footage."
"I know."
"Don't let her turn this into a question about me when the question is about what she did."
He came back to the bed.
Sat down.
"I'm not," he said.
"I just needed to hear it from you."
Two days later, Carla Simms gave a statement to Margaret's attorney.
We learned the contents through Detective Reyes.
Carla claimed I had a history of making false accusations against people who tried to help me.
That I had done it before.
That Daniel Marsh had told her so himself, years ago, and that Margaret had confided her fears about me to Carla months before the incident.
It was neat.
It was prepared.
It arrived exactly when the lab results were confirmed.
Ryan read the summary and set it on the hospital tray table.
"She planned this," he said.
"Not just the kitchen.
All of it.
She had a backup ready."
"Yes."
"How long has she been building this?"
I thought about the nursery visits.
The comments about the crib.
The way she called the baby "it."
"Since before we told anyone I was pregnant," I said.
Ryan picked up his phone.
He called his uncle — his mother's brother, the one person in the family Margaret actually listened to.
The call went to voicemail.
He left a message.
His voice was calm and very clear.
"Uncle Gerald.
I need you to call me back.
Not because Mom asked you to.
Because I'm asking you to.
There are things you need to hear directly from me before you decide where you stand."
May you like
He set the phone down.
It rang four minutes later.
