Chapter 5: Seventy-Two Hours
I called a solicitor that afternoon.
A real one — a man named Gerald Fitch who had handled Nora's estate and who I had not thought to call in eight months because Heloise had told me, gently, that she had already been in touch with him and that everything was in order.
Gerald picked up on the second ring.
"Daniel," he said.
"I've been hoping you'd call.
I tried to reach you in March, but the number I had went to voicemail and I never heard back."
I went still.
"I never received a message from you."
A pause.
"I left two.
And I sent a letter to the house."
"I never received a letter."
Another pause, longer this time.
"Daniel, I need to ask you something directly.
Has anyone been managing your correspondence on your behalf?"
I looked at the window.
Outside, the street was ordinary.
People walking.
A woman with a pram.
A man reading his phone.
"Yes," I said.
"Someone has."
Gerald's voice shifted into something careful and precise.
"Come in tomorrow morning.
Bring whatever documents you have.
Don't sign anything between now and then.
Don't respond to any legal communication from her solicitor.
And Daniel — don't tell her you've spoken to me."
"She gave me seventy-two hours."
"Then we have time.
Come at nine."
---
I picked Thora up from my neighbor Margaret's house that evening.
Margaret was seventy-one, sharp-eyed, and had lived on our street for thirty years.
She had watched Thora twice before when I traveled, and she had been the one I'd called from the taxi the night before, asking if Thora could stay without explaining why.
She met me at the door before I could knock.
"She's asleep," Margaret said, stepping aside to let me in.
"She was exhausted.
She ate well, though." She paused.
"Daniel.
That child had marks on her hands that she said were from carrying things.
She said the lady at home made her practice."
I didn't answer immediately.
"How long?" Margaret asked.
"I don't know exactly.
Long enough."
Margaret looked at me for a moment.
Then she said, "I saw things over the last few months.
Cars I didn't recognize.
That woman coming and going at odd hours.
I thought it was grief.
People do strange things with grief." She folded her arms.
"I should have knocked on your door."
"You didn't know."
"No.
But I'm telling you now — whatever you need, I'm here.
And if anyone asks me what I saw, I'll tell them exactly what I told you."
I looked at her.
"That may matter more than you think."
She nodded once, firm, like a decision made.
"Then it's settled.
Go get your daughter."
Thora was curled on Margaret's sofa under a yellow blanket, her bear tucked under one arm.
I sat beside her for a moment without waking her.
Her cheek had faded to a faint shadow.
Her breathing was slow and even.
My phone lit up on the cushion beside me.
A message from Heloise.
*Seventy-one hours, Daniel.
My lawyer is ready.
Are you?*
I turned the phone face down.
May you like
Not yet, I thought.
But I will be.
