Chapter 18 - STERLING HOUSE
Sterling House was seized, then later sold under asset-forfeiture and restitution proceedings.
Clara never wanted to see it again.
Then the government asked whether she wanted to retrieve personal property left in the staff wing from her employment.
A coat.
Shoes.
A ceramic mug Lily made in high school.
She went once.
Agent Sloan came with her.
The mansion felt smaller.
Without Arthur inside, it was just stone, wood, and rooms built to impress people who needed impressing.
Clara stood at the basement door.
“You don’t have to go down,” Sloan said.
“I know.”
She did anyway.
The cell remained.
Bars open now.
Chains removed into evidence.
The stone Luca had thrown still showed a chip in the wall where it struck.
Clara laughed softly.
“What?”
Sloan asked.
“He almost knocked me unconscious because I called him a ghost.”
“Moretti’s people skills were always weak.”
They stood in silence.
Then Clara looked toward the passage.
“This house held a man for eighteen months.”
“Yes.”
“And upstairs people drank wine.”
“Yes.”
That bothered her more than she could explain.
Ordinary life above hidden captivity.
Maybe that was Arthur’s whole system.
Keep horror beneath polished floors.
Before leaving, Clara took her old mug from the staff cabinet.
May you like
Nothing else.
She did not need souvenirs from captivity.
