Chapter 14 - TERESA TELLS THE WHOLE TRUTH
Teresa requested one meeting with Alex.
No lawyers in the room.
But the conversation was recorded by agreement.
She looked smaller.
Black dress replaced by plain gray.
Alex asked:
“Why did you hit Lily at the funeral?”
Teresa closed her eyes.
“She kept saying Derek scared Clara.”
“So?”
“I panicked.”
“You hit a six-year-old.”
“Yes.”
“What were you protecting?”
Teresa cried.
“Derek.”
Alex stared.
“Even then?”
“Yes.”
“After Clara died?”
“Yes.”
The answer was unbearable because it was honest.
Teresa continued:
“I thought if everyone stayed quiet long enough, I could separate the fraud from her death.”
Alex said:
“You couldn’t.”
“No.”
“Did you think Derek killed her?”
Teresa shook her head.
“No.”
“Did you think the argument contributed?”
Long silence.
“Yes.”
There.
Not legal causation.
Moral possibility.
Then Teresa whispered:
“I kept telling myself she had a bad heart.”
Alex’s face hardened.
“She had a heart condition.”
Teresa nodded.
“I know.”
The difference mattered.
Condition was not blame.
Clara did not die because she was weak.
Adults created a confrontation around someone they knew had a medical vulnerability.
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No one could prove the argument killed her.
No one could erase that they chose the argument anyway.
