Chapter 5 - THE ENVELOPE
Victoria recovered quickly.
People like her always did.
She placed her coffee cup down.
“Lily, sweetheart, grief can create confusing memories.”
Lily shrank in her chair.
Beatrice took one step forward.
Leo lifted a hand.
Not toward Beatrice.
Toward Victoria.
“Stop.”
Victoria blinked.
“I’m only trying to help.”
“By telling my daughter her memory is false?”
“I’m telling you she was four.”
Mateo leaned against the wall.
“She remembers you.”
Victoria turned.
“And you’re interrogating a traumatized child before breakfast.”
“No one interrogated her.”
Beatrice could no longer stay quiet.
“She remembered you on her own.”
Victoria’s eyes snapped toward her.
“This is exactly what I warned Leo about.”
“What?”
“You becoming too involved.”
Beatrice stared.
Victoria stood.
“You encourage her dependence.”
“She trusts me.”
“You enjoy that.”
Beatrice went still.
Victoria’s voice sharpened.
“You enjoy being needed by someone important because nobody ever looked twice at you before you entered this house.”
Mateo looked away in disgust.
Lily’s eyes filled.
Leo rose slowly.
“That is enough.”
Victoria realized she had gone too far.
“Leo, I didn’t mean—”
“Leave the room.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
“Now.”
Victoria’s face flushed.
“You’re choosing the maid’s feelings over mine?”
“No.”
Leo’s voice was flat.
“I’m choosing not to let you humiliate someone in front of my daughter.”
Victoria looked at Beatrice with raw hatred.
Then left.
Lily reached for Beatrice.
Beatrice sat beside her.
Leo saw the child’s fingers immediately relax around Beatrice’s hand.
Something in him changed.
After breakfast, he called Mateo into his office.
“Find everything.”
Mateo nodded.
“Victoria’s connection to Sofia?”
“Everything.”
“Her father too?”
“Especially her father.”
Beatrice stood near the door.
Leo looked at her.
“You’re involved now.”
She almost smiled.
“Apparently.”
“Which means you listen to Mateo.”
Mateo snorted.
“She listens to nobody.”
“I noticed.”
Beatrice folded her arms.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Stay close to Lily.”
“That part is easy.”
“And don’t confront Victoria.”
Beatrice hesitated.
“Beatrice.”
“Fine.”
Leo pointed at her.
“That tone is why I don’t believe you.”
“I said fine.”
“That means nothing.”
Mateo cleared his throat.
“I’d like to remind both of you we may be discussing murder.”
They stopped.
“Thank you.”
Mateo walked out.
That afternoon, Beatrice helped Lily sort old drawings.
One showed Sofia standing beneath a yellow sun.
One showed Leo in a black suit.
One showed Beatrice holding a cookie.
Then Lily pulled out a picture Beatrice had never seen.
A red car.
A woman in purple.
A black rectangle between them.
Beatrice stared.
“What’s this?”
Lily looked uncomfortable.
“The envelope.”
The drawing was old.
The paper wrinkled.
“Did you draw this after your mom died?”
Lily nodded.
“Who is the purple person?”
“You know.”
“Victoria?”
Another nod.
Beatrice turned the picture over.
Writing covered the back.
Adult handwriting.
TRAUMA PROCESSING EXERCISE — DO NOT ENCOURAGE SPECIFIC RECOLLECTION.
At the bottom was a signature.
Dr. Raymond Price.
Beatrice took a picture with her phone.
Then she heard movement outside Lily’s bedroom.
She opened the door.
Nobody.
At the far end of the hall, the elevator doors were closing.
She caught a flash of ivory fabric.
Victoria.
Beatrice’s pulse accelerated.
She locked Lily’s door.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Lily.”
“Don’t go.”
Beatrice hesitated.
The child’s fear decided it.
She stayed.
Ten minutes later, Mateo arrived.
Beatrice showed him the drawing.
His eyes narrowed.
“He wrote instructions on a child’s drawing?”
“It looks like he was directing her therapy.”
“He wasn’t her therapist.”
Beatrice looked at him.
“What?”
“He was the emergency physician who signed Sofia’s death report.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“Why was he seeing Lily?”
“That’s what I intend to ask.”
Mateo photographed the paper.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His expression darkened.
“When?”
Beatrice watched him.
Mateo hung up.
“What?”
“Dr. Price was supposed to meet one of my people fifteen minutes ago.”
“And?”
“He never arrived.”
“Maybe he changed his mind.”
Mateo shook his head.
“They found his car abandoned under Lower Wacker.”
Beatrice looked toward Lily.
May you like
Mateo lowered his voice.
“And there was blood on the driver’s seat.”
