Chapter 7: What Two Thousand Dollars Buys
I didn't go back to bed.
I sat in the chair until the light outside changed and the house started making its morning sounds — pipes, birds, the refrigerator cycling on downstairs.
Tara didn't sleep either.
She sat on the edge of the bed with her hands in her lap and we didn't talk for a long time, which was its own kind of conversation.
Finally she said: "I know I have to fix this."
"You do."
"I don't know how."
"You start by not sending him another dollar."
She nodded.
"And the proof he has?"
"Let him show it," I said.
"Whatever it looks like, hiding it makes it worse.
You know that."
She was quiet for a moment.
"I was ashamed.
That's why I didn't tell you.
Not because I didn't want to.
Because I was ashamed that I let it go this far."
"I understand that," I said.
"But Maya paid for it."
She flinched.
"I know."
"She's been accused of things her whole life, Tara.
Before she came here.
Every place she's ever been, someone decided she was the problem before they asked a single question.
And yesterday you—"
"I know what I did." Her voice was tight.
"You don't have to keep—"
"I'm not punishing you.
I'm telling you why it matters.
So you understand what you're actually repairing."
She looked at me.
Her eyes were red.
"Does she hate me?"
"She said okay.
That's where you start."
Tara pressed her hands flat against her knees.
"What do we do about Derek?"
"I'm going to make some calls today," I said.
"I want to know exactly what he can and can't do with what he has.
And I want it on record that he showed up here and made a threat."
"You think he'll come back?"
"I think he came here because he thought you'd answer the door and fold.
He didn't expect me to know." I stood up.
"That changes his math."
I went downstairs and made coffee and sat at the kitchen table with my phone.
I called a friend who knew a lawyer.
The lawyer called me back within the hour.
I explained the situation — the money, the contact, the visit, the implied threat.
"Document everything," she said.
"The text.
The visit.
What he said about the letters.
Write it all down with times and dates.
If he contacts either of you again, don't respond.
Let it come to me."
"Can he actually do anything with what he has?"
"Embarrass you?
Maybe.
Legally?
No.
Receiving money from someone who gave it voluntarily is not a crjme.
Showing up at someone's door and implying you'll cause trouble if you don't get paid is closer to one." A pause.
"He's not holding power.
He thinks he is.
There's a difference."
I wrote down everything she said.
When I came back upstairs, Tara was in the hallway.
Maya's door was open.
I stopped.
Tara was standing in the doorway of Maya's room.
Maya was at her desk, a book open in front of her, not reading it.
"I meant what I said yesterday," Tara said.
"I'm not asking you to forget it.
I'm just — I want you to know I meant it."
Maya looked at her for a moment.
"Why did you think it was me?"
"Because I panicked and I wasn't thinking straight and you were there." Tara's voice was even.
"That's the honest answer.
It wasn't fair."
"No," Maya said.
"It wasn't."
"I know."
Maya looked back at her book.
"Okay."
Tara stayed in the doorway a moment longer, then turned and saw me in the hallway.
I didn't say anything.
Neither did she.
But that afternoon, Derek sent a text to Tara's phone.
Three words.
*Last chance.
May you like
Tonight.*
She showed it to me without me asking.
