Chapter 7 - The Quiet Interview
The hospital arranged for a child advocate to meet Lily without Ethan or me asking questions. The woman introduced herself as Nina Ortega. She brought no intimidating folder, just crayons and a small box of picture cards.
"You can say you don't know," Nina told Lily. "You can stop whenever you want."
I waited outside with Ethan. He paced twice, caught himself, and sat down.
"She used to sing while Nora cooked," he said. "She'd make up terrible words to every song. I thought the silence would pass if we gave her time."
"Giving her time wasn't wrong," I said. "Stopping everyone from asking why she was getting worse was."
He nodded. "I let Vivienne make those calls."
An hour later Nina said Lily had described a repeated bedtime routine, a bitter taste, and feeling unable to stay awake. She had also described seeing Vivienne and Graham in Nora's office after the funeral. Nina warned us not to coach Lily or treat her account as proof of every suspected crime. Adults would have to verify what they could.
In the elevator, Ethan received a message from Vivienne's lawyer. It said his fiancée denied wrongdoing and demanded that Grace be removed from the property. It also warned him against spreading unfounded accusations about her company.
"She's calling me a liar," I said after he showed me.
"She's demanding we treat her story as the only one." Ethan put the phone away. "We're not doing that."
That evening I collected my clothes from the estate while Leo and Rosa were present. In my room sat the notebook I'd kept beside my alarm clock, full of dated observations and tiny drawings Lily had left on the kitchen counter.
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Between two pages was a folded square I didn't remember seeing. In Lily's shaky handwriting were six words: SHE SAID NORA STOLE THE MONEY.
I took a photograph before touching anything else, then called Detective Chen. I understood now why Vivienne had feared a child who could remember.
