Chapter 6 - A Room with a Lock
Raphael offered Clara and Noel rooms in the guest wing.
Clara refused.
He didn’t argue.
Instead, Dora took her there after her discharge and handed her a key.
“This locks from your side.”
Clara looked around.
Two bedrooms.
A small sitting room.
A radiator giving off steady heat.
Noel stood in the doorway, stunned.
“Mommy.”
“I know.”
“There’s no water on the wall.”
Dora turned toward the window.
Raphael looked at the floor.
Clara signed a temporary housing agreement after an independent attorney reviewed it.
Her wages would continue while she recovered.
She could leave whenever she wanted.
She read that sentence three times.
The next morning, Noel found Raphael in the breakfast room.
“Do you live here?”
“Yes.”
“All of it?”
“Unfortunately.”
She considered that.
“You must lose your socks a lot.”
Dora made a sound suspiciously like a laugh.
Raphael pulled out a chair.
Noel climbed into it.
He noticed her holding a small stone.
“The waiting one?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Still waiting?”
“Maybe.”
Evelyn arrived before breakfast ended.
Cream coat.
Perfect hair.
A diamond bright enough to catch the light from across the room.
She kissed Raphael’s cheek.
Then noticed Noel.
“Oh.”
Clara stood.
“Good morning.”
Evelyn smiled without looking at her.
“You’re running a shelter now?”
Raphael set down his coffee.
“They’re guests.”
“How generous.”
Noel reached for the jam.
Evelyn moved it farther away without seeming to notice.
Raphael moved it back.
A small thing.
Clara saw it.
So did Evelyn.
Later, she found Clara alone outside the guest wing.
“My father says you’ve had a difficult life.”
Clara kept her hand on the doorknob.
“He would know.”
Evelyn’s smile sharpened.
“Be careful. Raphael enjoys fixing broken things. Eventually, he gets bored.”
“My daughter is asleep.”
“Then let’s keep our voices down.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“The wedding is in six weeks. You and your little girl will be gone before then.”
“Does Raphael know that?”
“He doesn’t need to know every housekeeping decision.”
That evening, Clara returned from a medical appointment to find the guest-room door unlocked.
Nothing was missing.
Except the tin box.
May you like
On Noel’s pillow lay her father’s employee badge.
Snapped cleanly in half.
