The father and husband were found dead next door by his wife, police sat across the street for a few hours like they were watching for someone. Matt’s girlfriend Chelsea approaches them with her puppy and has a brief conversation before they depart.The wife hadn’t and still hasn’t been back but a few different cars have shown up,perhaps some essential belongings.
On a walk this afternoon, my husband runs into Matt who gives him a hug and talks to greater length about what happened, divulging that the man’s death was an apparent suicide after a particularly bad fight between with the wife who was then intending to leave the partnership. Dread sinks in me thinking about the pounding on the walls I had heard the night before the responders showed up and I may never know but I really fuckin hope he didn’t lay violent hands on that woman and child.
In the days since. The giant sunflowers that once grew in front of their home now wither into blackness and his BMW with a cross hanging on the mirror has sits untouched in the garage next to us.
I hope the mother and baby are in a space that offers them comfort and support that might give them recovery, respite, or whatever they need to make the best out of the path ahead.