Chapter 17 - Peter admits what he meant
Peter resisted longer.
He said he had been misunderstood.
“He deserved it” meant:
Eli deserved correction.
Not injury.
Rebecca? No, detective handled his interview.
Marlowe asked:
“What correction?”
Peter said:
“Something to make him stop pestering Lena.”
“Was spraying perfume into his face acceptable?”
“No.”
“Then why defend it?”
Peter became irritated.
“Because Anna was attacking her sister.”
“Verbally?”
“She slapped her.”
“Yes. After the spray.”
Peter stared.
Then Marlowe asked:
“When you saw the child crying, what did you do?”
Nothing.
Peter finally said:
“I thought if I sided with Anna, the whole thing would get worse.”
There.
Like Diane.
Order over accuracy.
Peter’s version of family leadership had always been:
reduce conflict.
But sometimes reducing conflict means empowering whoever is most willing to create it.
Lena knew our parents would minimize.
So she had fewer reasons to stop herself.
May you like
That did not cause her action.
It created room around it.
