Chapter 4 - The Visit to the Jail
I didn't want to go, but my lawyer insisted it was necessary to finalize the restitution agreements.
Two months after Clara was born, I stood in the visitor’s room of the King County Correctional Facility. The room was cold, divided by a thick sheet of plexiglass, smelling of old floor wax and cheap detergent.
I sat down on the plastic stool, holding the phone receiver to my ear.
On the other side of the glass, a guard led Ashley out.
My sister looked unrecognizable. The expensive designer clothes were gone, replaced by a drab, oversized orange jumpsuit. Her hair, usually perfectly blown out, was pulled back in a greasy ponytail, and her face was pale and drawn, hollowed out by two months of jail food and stress.
She picked up her receiver, her hand shaking.
"Are you happy now?" she hissed, her voice crackling through the cheap speaker. "I’m facing three years, Emily! Three years in a federal facility because of you! You’re my sister! How could you do this to me?"
"I didn't do this to you, Ashley," I said, my voice calm, flat, and entirely devoid of the fear I used to feel whenever she raised her voice. "You slashed my tires while I was in active labor. You stole my phone. You deleted the messages from the father of my child. You helped Mom steal two hundred and fifty thousand dollars that my father left for me."
"Mom told me it was family money!" Ashley cried, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. "She said you didn't need it because you were going to marry some low-life anyway! She said she was protecting the family asset!"
"The only asset Mom cared about was herself," I said. "Where is she, Ashley? Why isn't she here supporting you?"
Ashley’s face twisted in a sudden, violent expression of betrayal. "She... she took a plea deal, Emily. Her lawyer managed to get her probation because of her 'age and medical condition.' She’s moving to Arizona next week with whatever money she has left in her personal accounts. She’s leaving me here."
I wasn't surprised. Carol Vance had always been a survivor. She would sacrifice her own children to keep herself out of the cold.
"I’m signing the restitution paperwork today, Ashley," I said, leaning closer to the glass. "The court is seizing your car, your jewelry, and your share of the remaining estate to pay back the forty-two thousand you took from my savings. I won't stop them."
"You're a monster," Ashley whispered, her forehead resting against the glass.
May you like
"No," I said, hanging up the receiver. "I’m a mother."
I stood up and walked out of the visitor’s room without looking back.
