Chapter 3 - The Missing Folder
Richard crossed the study in four long strides. “Who was in here?”
His chief financial officer, Graham Pierce, stood beside the desk holding a leather portfolio. “I came for tomorrow's board materials.”
“Did you open my safe?”
Graham smiled without showing teeth. “You gave me the code after the charity audit.”
“I gave it to you once. Two years ago.”
“And I assumed you trusted me.”
Nora hovered at the doorway. Graham's eyes flicked toward her uniform, then her face.
“You must be our newest hire,” he said. “I hear you've made quite an entrance.”
“I called for help when someone needed it.”
“A heroic first day.” He closed the portfolio. “Richard, Elaine's confusion may make her say things she doesn't mean.”
“Get out,” Richard said.
Graham left, but his pleasant expression survived all the way to the hallway.
Margaret found Nora a few minutes later. “Do not challenge that man. Madison shouts. Graham smiles while other people lose their homes.”
“Who's the blue folder about?”
“Ask nobody that question again.”
Dinner for the family was canceled. Nora ate toast beside the laundry room and called Grandma Ruth.
“Did they feed you?” Ruth asked.
“Technically.”
“Did they treat you decent?”
“Not technically.”
Ruth laughed, then coughed. Nora knew the sound of lungs made tired by years in a damp house.
“I'll send money Friday,” Nora promised.
“You send yourself to nursing school. That's the promise.”
Nora hung up and discovered Madison standing behind her.
“You told my father I tried to slap you.”
“I told him what happened.”
Madison's jaw tightened. “The agency's reviewing your contract.”
“Okay.”
“You're not afraid?”
“I'm terrified,” Nora answered. “That's not the same as changing my story.”
Madison looked briefly unsure what to do with that.
At midnight, Nora went downstairs for water. Light spilled from the study. Richard sat amid torn envelopes and old photographs.
One black-and-white photo showed a younger Elaine outside a small Arkansas clinic. Beside her stood a woman Nora knew instantly.
May you like
Her mother, June Hayes.
Across the bottom someone had written: Emberwood, the summer everything went wrong.
