Red

Part 29

Bucky

A week after New Year's festivities in Jersey with our family, Mallery and I are enjoying a quiet night at home after a long week at work. She's busy writing on her iPad while we watch some Travel Channel show when the apartment phone rings, and she hops up to get it.

"Hello? Hi, Kurt. Uh, no, I don't know anyone named ..." She turns to look at me with a shocked expression. "How long has she been here? Where is she? On the sidewalk? No, I'll be down in a few minutes. Thanks." She hangs up the phone, turning to stare at me.

"What is it?"

"Do you remember just before the trial when Laura called me? She wanted to ask me if I knew a name." She grabs her shoes by the door before coming to sit down by me again, pulling them on.

"Yeah when you left your phone at the office. I never asked you about that," I say, leaning forward, muting the TV.

"Doreen Green. I didn't know the name, but she's downstairs." Mallery gives me a confused look, and I don't know how to react.

"You're going to go down there?"

"Yeah, I mean, she tracked me down." She stands to grab a sweater hanging by the door. "Kurt says she's been here for a while but finally got the nerve to come in and ask for me."

"Do you want me to come with you?" I was all for giving Mallery her independence, especially as she was starting to come to terms with the events of the past nine months, really the past few years.

"Yes," she answers, tossing me my own shoes. "But maybe you can wait with Kurt?"

When we make it down to the lobby, we see Kurt talking with a petite woman in an oversized winter coat. As Mallery walks over to her, I can see the similarities immediately: petite, willowy frame, fair skin, red hair. But as Kurt walks over and offers me a seat behind his desk, I see how far Mallery has come in comparison to this woman.

They move to sit in two of the armchairs nestled into the corner of the lobby, and my chest swells with pride at how beautiful my girl looks. This Doreen woman resembles the Mallery I saw back in May: drawn complexion, red hair that's lost its luster, and as she sits opposite my girl, she hunches over and pulls in on herself as if she's trying to hide and take up as little space as possible.

I look on as the two women talk quietly until Mallery smiles at me over her shoulder, waving me over. I want to be angry with this woman for enabling John, but as I approach, I can see Doreen look up at me with wide eyes, and I do everything in my power to come off as anything but intimidating.

"Bucky, this is Doreen Green," Mallery says softly and pulls on my arm until I'm crouching next to her chair.

"I'm sorry to barge in here like this." Doreen sniffles a little. "But I think this will help me confront the feelings I'm dealing with. I didn't know that Roger ... John—" Her voice cracks, and Mallery reaches into her pocket for a small package of tissues, handing them over.

"Thank you." She wipes at her face as Mallery grips my hand. "I didn't know what was going on. If I had, I wouldn't have moved the money over or helped him. He told me he was being charged with something else entirely and told me where to transfer the money."

"Did you have that much money?" Mallery asks, and Doreen shakes her head.

"It was his. He told me how to log into his account and pay the bail." She sighs. "I swear I didn't know."

"I believe you." Mallery reaches out to grasp Doreen's hand. "How long were you two together?"

"Only about six months when he was arrested." She shrugs. "He made me feel like I owed him."