Chapter 11 - ELEANOR RUNS
“She did not just run.”
Peter stared at the empty stairwell.
My father said,
“She did.”
The fire alarm continued.
Employees poured out of offices.
Dominic shoved past us.
“Mom!”
I grabbed his sleeve.
He turned.
“Don’t chase her.”
“That’s my mother.”
“She just tried to frame your wife.”
His face twisted.
“I know what she did.”
“Then stop helping her.”
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then pulled his arm free.
“I’m not helping.”
He ran down the stairs.
My father muttered,
“That family has a troubling relationship with exits.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
One second.
Then we moved.
Security cameras showed Eleanor leaving through the underground garage.
She used a company driver’s access card.
The car was gone.
The driver wasn’t.
Police found him near the elevators.
Confused.
“She took my keys.”
The investigator asked,
“Where would she go?”
Nobody knew.
Then Chloe spoke.
“The lake house.”
Everyone looked at her.
She folded her arms.
“She keeps cash there.”
“How much?”
Chloe shrugged.
“A lot?”
“Define a lot.”
“I don’t know. Rich-person emergency money.”
My father frowned.
“You are rich people.”
Chloe looked at him.
“Apparently not anymore.”
That was probably the first honest joke she had ever made.
The police headed toward the lake house.
I should have gone home.
I knew that.
My doctor had told me to rest.
My father told me to rest.
Even Peter told me to rest.
So naturally, I went back to the hotel.
I needed clothes.
A shower.
Ten minutes without anyone saying the word fraud.
The bridal ballroom was empty now.
Half-eaten cake.
Wilted flowers.
Abandoned champagne.
My torn blue dress lay in a garment bag security had saved as evidence.
I stared at it.
The room looked smaller without two hundred people in it.
Less powerful.
More pathetic.
Amanda sat alone near the stage.
I hadn’t known she was still there.
She looked up.
“Hi.”
I almost laughed.
“Hi?”
She winced.
“Yeah. Bad opening.”
I sat across from her.
She rubbed her palms together.
“I’m sorry.”
I didn’t answer.
“I know that sounds useless.”
“It does.”
She nodded.
“I should’ve told you.”
“Yes.”
“I should’ve refused Chloe.”
“Yes.”
“I should’ve left the ring on the table.”
“Yes.”
She looked at me.
“You can stop agreeing.”
“No.”
Her mouth twitched.
Then she started crying.
Quietly this time.
“I wanted Chloe to like me.”
That surprised me.
Amanda was older than Chloe.
More successful.
At least from the outside.
“She always made me feel…”
She shook her head.
“Never mind.”
“No. Say it.”
“Replaceable.”
I understood that more than I wanted to.
She looked at me.
“I didn’t put the ring in your purse.”
“I know.”
“But I still took it.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
She nodded.
We sat in silence.
Then Amanda reached into her coat.
My body tensed.
She noticed.
“Sorry.”
She slowly pulled out an envelope.
“Chloe gave me this last week.”
I took it.
Inside were printed photographs.
Dominic.
At a restaurant.
At a hotel lobby.
With a woman I didn’t recognize.
I stared.
Amanda whispered,
“I think you need to know who she is.”
Then my phone rang.
It was the police.
They had reached Eleanor’s lake house.
And found it empty.
May you like
Except for one room.
A room filled with files about me.
