Chapter 2: The Woman With the Phone
Two security guards reached Evelyn first.
"Ma'am, you need to come with us."
"I'm not leaving without my daughter."
"Ma'am—"
"I said I'm not leaving without my daughter."
Lily was still gripping the back of her dress.
Evelyn reached behind her without looking and found her daughter's hand.
Julian was straightening his jacket now, performing injury for the crowd.
"She's unstable," he announced to no one and everyone.
"She's always been unstable.
Ask anyone in this family."
Eleanor nodded along like a woman confirming a diagnosis.
Then the stranger walked forward.
The woman with the phone.
She moved through the crowd calmly, unhurried, as if she had been waiting for exactly this moment.
She stopped beside Evelyn.
"Don't say anything else," she said quietly.
"Not one more word."
Julian's eyes landed on her.
Something shifted in his face — so fast Evelyn almost missed it.
Not anger.
Not contempt.
Fear.
"Who are you?" Eleanor demanded.
The woman didn't answer Eleanor.
She looked at Julian.
"You know who I am," she said.
"And you know what I have."
Julian's jaw tightened.
"You need to leave."
"I don't think I do." She glanced at Evelyn.
"The brooch wasn't in his jacket pocket.
It was never in his jacket pocket.
May you like
And I can prove it."
The room had gone very, very still.
