Chapter 2 - THE NOTEBOOKRosa had kept a notebook.
Thank God she had.
Not because she wanted to become involved in our marriage.
Because she was afraid nobody would believe her.
The first entry was dated six weeks earlier.
Melissa told Lucy that Daddy gets mad when people tell secrets. Lucy cried.
Then:
Lucy refused to say Daddy pushes Mommy. Melissa took away cartoons.
Another:
Dr. Vale came when Ethan was away. No appointment on calendar.
Another:
Lucy told me Mommy says we are moving where Daddy can’t find us.
I stopped reading.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Rosa began crying.
“I tried.”
I remembered.
Two weeks earlier, I had been driving between job sites when Rosa called.
“Mr. Cole, can I talk to you about Lucy?”
I said:
“Is she sick?”
“No.”
“Can it wait until tonight?”
Then I forgot.
That memory would haunt me.
Rosa had tried again.
She sent:
Please call when alone. It is important.
Melissa apparently saw the message on our shared household tablet.
That evening, she told me Rosa had become “overly attached” to Lucy.
“She thinks she’s the mother.”
I believed enough of it to become cautious.
That was how Melissa isolated the witness.
May you like
Not by firing Rosa immediately.
By making me question her credibility first.
