Chapter 21 - THE CONVERSATION THROUGH THE WALL
Two nights before the luncheon, Victoria was taken to a church basement by Tommy’s court-appointed attorney. She surrendered her phone and entered alone.
A folding wall divided the room. A woman waited on the other side. Victoria could see only her shadow beneath the partition.
“Are you Emily?” Victoria asked.
The woman’s voice was low and rough, altered by an old injury. “What do you remember?”
“I remember the ribbons. The traffic song. You hated peas and hid them in my shoes.”
A quiet breath came through the wall.
“What do you remember about the fire?”
Victoria described smoke, William’s lie, and failing to cross the road because the signal remained red. She admitted she stopped searching once her parents said Emily was dead.
“You were seven,” the woman said.
“I became thirty-eight and kept believing the version that protected me.”
The woman did not comfort her.
She explained that Tommy insisted on making the public approach. The archive key required Victoria’s ribbon, but the child had another purpose. Sarah wanted the world to see whether Victoria recognized family before wealth.
“You trained him to test me?”
“I prepared him for you.”
Victoria felt accused and manipulated. Both were true.
“Why risk a child?”
“Because he asked why powerful people listen only after someone makes them uncomfortable. I could not give him a good answer.”
The woman slid a sealed card beneath the wall. It contained no name, only instructions: wear the original ribbon; do not allow security to touch Tommy; look across the street when he points.
May you like
“Will I see your face?” Victoria asked.
“That depends on what you see when he reaches you.”
