Chapter 13 - THE HOUSE WITH NO CURTAINS
Vega sent officers to Graham's apartment. They found the front door damaged and a frightened Graham crouched behind a locked bathroom door. His teenage daughter was safe at her grandmother's house. No one was seriously injured, but a stranger had tried to force his way inside.
Clara wanted to drive there. Nora stopped her.
“You can't fix this by running toward every threat. Let the people with badges do their jobs.”
“I couldn't save Daniel.”
“You are saving Rosie by staying alive and thinking clearly.”
That afternoon Clara faced Beatrice across a conference table at Nora's office. The meeting was recorded in notes by both lawyers. Beatrice requested a private conversation; Nora refused.
“Withdraw the petition,” Clara said. “Leave my daughter alone.”
Beatrice folded her gloved hands. “Then surrender your voting rights in the trust. You can live comfortably. You can even keep the house.”
“You almost let Rosie die.”
“Watch your accusations.”
“Tell me why you opened the gate.”
Beatrice held Clara's stare. “Children fall. Parents panic. That's all any reasonable person needs to know.”
Nora slid a copy of the red-ribbon photograph across the table. Beatrice's eyes dropped to it for one involuntary second.
Clara caught the movement. “You recognize that, don't you?”
Beatrice stood so fast her chair scraped the floor. “This meeting is over.”
At the door she paused. “Daniel was always so certain he could win. Ask yourself where that certainty got him.”
The room went silent.
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Clara finally understood something she'd been too afraid to say aloud: Beatrice knew more about Daniel's death than she had ever admitted.
