“You know the position of authority an abuser holds over his victim.” Archer’s voice was neutral. “She was afraid.”
Despite the neutral tone, though, Nell could tell there was a volcano brewing beneath the surface.
She’d never seen Archer truly angry. Over the years, in court and out, she’d seen him hypnotically charming. Contemptuously cold. And myriad shades in between.
But she wasn’t sure she’d ever actually seen him angry. Really and truly, wrenchingly angry.
She wasn’t sure she ever wanted to see that.
“Afraid,” he repeated, squeezing her fingers tighter. “And more afraid than ever once my dad got involved.”
She shifted in her seat, angling toward him even more. “Archer, you don’t have to—”
But clearly he did, because he ignored her tentative attempt to stop him. “He started out just wanting to help her escape her situation. It hadn’t been that long since my mom had died. Hayley was like three years old.”
Nell felt his gaze slide her way again even though she couldn’t actually see it.
“He tried talking Meredith into leaving Martin—for her own sake if nothing else—but she refused. She’d already tried to escape once and the slimeball had her convinced that she’d never see Ros again if she tried leaving him.”
Nell couldn’t stop a dismayed sound from leaking out. Even if she hadn’t discovered his attempted collusion in the Lambert probate matter, Nell could well imagine Martin convincing Meredith of such a claim. He simply was that intimidating.
Nell knew Meredith didn’t have other family. More than thirty years ago, she would have been so young. So alone.
“No wonder you can’t stand him.”
“That’s just the start.” The neutrality of Archer’s tone edged into grimness. “Even though he now knew the truth, my dad couldn’t stop Meredith from quitting her job. He couldn’t force her to leave her husband. She doesn’t talk about what happened during those few years that followed, but you can be pretty certain Martin didn’t change his ways. People like him usually don’t.”
“No. They just get more entrenched in them.”
Archer’s fingers squeezed hers. “Anyway, Dad moved us to Braden. I don’t know if it was because he wanted to put more distance between him and Meredith or not. My uncle was already there with his medical practice. So maybe it really was because of that. In any case, he started up his own agency and time passed. But eventually he ran into Meredith again. And this time, things got even more serious even faster, and she ended up pregnant with the triplets. Which put her really between a rock and a hard place. Protect herself and the babies she was carrying by leaving to be with my father, or stay with Rosalind, who was still just a toddler.”
Nell pressed her lips together. Even though she knew how that situation had ultimately ended, she couldn’t help feeling anxious. “What happened? What made her leave Ros with him?”
“She didn’t leave Ros.”
“But—”
“Martin discovered the affair. He tried to raise his hand against her again but this time she fought back. She ended up clocking him with a cast-iron frying pan. Knocked him out cold. Put him in the hospital, in fact, with a concussion. She bolted with Ros and went to my dad.” Archer’s voice tightened. “But a few days later, the cops came to arrest her for assault and they put Rosalind right back in her father’s hands.”
“But Martin was the abuser,” Nell argued as if there was something that could still be done about it. “He was the one who belonged in jail. Not Meredith—”
“Use your head, Cornelia. This was more than thirty years ago. Laws then were even less perfect than they are now. You know that sometimes the bad guys win. He was already making a name for himself in legal circles. The people’s champion.” He made a disgusted sound. “He had people lined up vouching for his character. Attesting to what a good father he was. The best parent for Ros, certainly, since his wife was clearly unstable. How hard do you think it was for him to find a judge who gave him quick custody? Particularly with Meredith in jail for assault.”
“Was there never a record of this?” It was inconceivable that Ros didn’t know any of this, but if she had known, how much different would things have been for her friend? Ros wouldn’t have worked her entire life to earn her father’s love if she’d known he’d abused her mother.
“Officially?” Archer made a rough sound. “You worked with Pastore long enough to know his methods. The only records that exist show his magnanimousness in dropping the assault charges. He’d won, of course. He had Ros. And Meredith was still terrified that he’d disappear with her the way he’d threatened before. So Dad pulled out those old photos.”
“He still had them!”
“Insurance,” Archer explained.
“I’m surprised Meredith allowed it.”
“I don’t know that he gave her a chance to argue the point. But it was good that he’d kept them. Even as an abuser, Martin had been calculating. He hadn’t been stupid enough to leave marks on her where a casual observer might see them, but he had been twisted enough to use a cigarette to basically brand his initials on her. The photos were pretty intimate.”
Nell’s stomach churned even more. She thought about the warm, loving woman experimenting with her brownies. And about Martin the last time Nell had seen him in his office. Sitting at his desk, arrogant and confident despite the evidence she’d all but thrown into his face. “That’s revolting.”
“It was. All along, Meredith had been adamant that the photos would never be seen. It’s amazing that she’d let my dad even photograph her like that in the first place.”
“She wanted help.”
“Help that she ended up not even taking for another few years. But by then, she
