CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 6 — THE DOCUMENT
Martha rushed in through the side hallway, breathing hard, her uniform shirt wrinkled like she had dressed in a hurry.
She must have followed Eleanor from the car.
In her hand was a folded document.
Victoria saw it.
The color drained from her face so quickly that even I noticed from the floor.
“Martha,” Victoria said carefully. “What is that?”
Martha did not answer her.
She went straight to Eleanor and touched her arm. “Mrs. Harrington, I found the rest.”
Eleanor did not take her eyes off Victoria.
“Show her,” she said.
Martha unfolded the paper with trembling fingers.
It was not the torn copy I had found.
It was complete.
Legal formatting. Signature lines. Witness section. Medical authority language.
My name at the bottom.
Forged.
Beside it was Martha’s name.
Forged too.
Victoria’s lips parted.
“I don’t know what that is,” she said.
Eleanor gave a quiet laugh, but there was no humor in it.
“You don’t?”
Victoria lifted her chin. “Anyone could have planted that.”
Martha’s voice shook when she spoke.
“She kept the proof because she knew this day would come.”
Victoria turned on me.
“You little liar.”
I flinched.
Eleanor moved closer to Victoria so fast that Victoria stepped back.
“Do not speak to her like that again.”
For a second, I saw the Eleanor this house had been built around. Not the fragile widow Victoria described. Not the confused old woman in whispered conversations. The real Eleanor Harrington.
The woman who had raised Daniel after her husband traveled too much.
The woman who had kept the company alive through two recessions.
The woman who knew every painting, every receipt, every scar in that house.
Victoria’s hands began to shake.
“You’re confused,” she said softly. “You’re upset. This is exactly what I’ve been trying to explain to Daniel.”
Eleanor smiled.
May you like
That frightened Victoria more than shouting would have.
“No, Victoria,” Eleanor said. “For the first time in months, I am perfectly clear.”
