Page 18 of The Perfect Revenge
“I’m going to step outside for a few minutes,” she told Susannah.“I need a mental break.”
As she left the conference room, she didn't add that the break was intended to serve two purposes.Often, a breakthrough would come to her when she stepped away from the evidence and let her mind wander.
She was hoping to get lucky again
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Eleanor Caldwell felt a little guilty.
She didn’t like invading her daughter’s privacy.When Maggie was a teenager, Eleanor had been a bit of a helicopter parent.Now that the woman was an adult, and a single mother to boot, it didn’t feel right to probe too deeply into her life.
But as she walked up to the front door of Maggie’s Malibu beach house, Eleanor reminded herself that this was a special circumstance.After all, Maggie hadaskedher to come by tonight.She had a big date and had requested that Eleanor babysit Devon, her three-year-old son.
Eleanor was always happy to spend time with her grandson, even if it was sometimes hard to keep up with the little guy.And she was relieved that Maggie was getting back into dating.The divorce from her ex, Teddy, had been acrimonious.
Yes, she got a nice chunk for alimony and child support in the eventual settlement, along with this house.But the whole thing had been an ordeal, and it had been nearly a year before she was willing to dip her toe back in the dating waters.
But Eleanor wondered if Maggie was having second thoughts.When her daughter called this morning, she'd originally asked her to come by in the early evening.She said she'd text later with an exact time.But it was 6:15 now, and Eleanor hadn't heard anything.She'd texted three times and called twice, but never got a response.
So she made the command decision to drive the thirty minutes from her Santa Monica home out here and talk in person.Part of her feared that Maggie had some kind of panic attack and was curled up in her bed with the phone turned off and the curtains pulled shut.It wouldn't be the first time.In fact, during the heat of the divorce, it was a semi-regular occurrence.
When Eleanor got to the door, she rang the bell once and then a second time.After a couple of minutes, she rapped on the door loudly.Still nothing.Finally, she pulled out her key and unlocked the door herself.She was very careful not to abuse the fact that Maggie had gifted her a key.In fact, the only other time she'd used it was when Maggie took Devon on an Alaskan cruise and asked Eleanor to come over every few days to water the plants.
“Maggie,” she called out as she stepped inside and locked the door behind her.“It’s mom.”
There was no reply, so she walked past the small foyer into the massive living room.It was the highlight of the house, with floor-to-ceiling windows that gave an expansive view of the Santa Monica Bay.The crashing waves of the Pacific were less than two hundred yards away. But the room was empty.
She walked the length of it, then passed through the kitchen before heading into the residential wing.Maggie had gotten the house in the settlement, even though it was far too big for just her and Devon.Two of the four bedrooms were currently unoccupied.Eleanor moved toward Devon's room and heard the distinct sound of something on the television.She knocked on the door and then entered.
The little fella was lying on his stomach on his bed, his head propped in his hands as his elbows rested on a pillow.He was staring intently at the screen, where an animated film that Eleanor didn’t recognize was playing on full volume.
She walked over and offered a royal wave to her grandson.He didn’t get the mild sarcasm of the gesture and waved back happily.
“Can you turn that down for a minute, sweetie?”she asked.
He nodded and pushed the volume button once, making no discernible change.
"Actually, can you mute it, please?"
Instead, Devon reluctantly pushed the pause button and rolled over on his back dramatically, as if he’d been asked to push a boulder up a mountain.
“You know we’re hanging out tonight, right Devon?”
“Yeah, Mommy told me.”
“I’m very excited to spend the evening with my little man.Where is Mommy now, by the way?”
"In her room getting ready for her friendly dinner," he said, using a phrase that Eleanor suspected Maggie had been regularly employing as her go-to euphemism for dating.
“Okay, I’m going to go say hi to her.You can go back to your movie for now, but please turn the volume down at least four pushes, okay?”
“Yes, Granny,” he said heavily, weighed down by the cruel burden of the request.
Eleanor left his room and continued down the hall to her daughter’s.It sounded like Devon had turned the movie down, but only slightly.She let it slide.
"Maggie," she said, before knocking on the door, "you never told me what time to come over, so I started getting antsy.Sorry for the intrusion, but I let myself in."
There was no answer.She knocked again.
