Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO KEPT RECEIPTS
Carmine wanted to send men.
Nell wanted someone those men couldn’t order around.
They argued in his study while dawn turned the windows gray.
“You’re not walking into this alone,” he said.
“I’ve been alone in your house for three years.”
“That ends now.”
“You don’t get to announce when my life changes.”
He pressed his lips together.
Then he pushed a telephone toward her.
“Who do you want to call?”
Nell took a card from her notebook.
Mara Ellis.
Attorney.
Rose had hidden it behind a recipe for cornbread.
At eight that morning, Mara arrived carrying a battered leather bag.
She was in her sixties, with silver hair and the steady expression of someone who had heard every possible lie.
She looked at Carmine.
“I’ll speak to her privately.”
“This is my house.”
“And she is my prospective client.”
Nell almost smiled.
Carmine left.
Mara waited until the door closed.
“What name would you like me to use?”
“Nell.”
“All right, Nell.”
That nearly undid her.
Someone had finally asked.
Nell spread the documents across the desk.
Mara read without interrupting.
When she reached the storage receipt, her expression changed.
“Your mother called me three years ago.”
“What did she say?”
“That she had records connecting an old attempted murder to financial crimes. We arranged to meet.”
“She never made it.”
“No.”
“Why didn’t you find me?”
“I knew her as Rose Brisco. She said she had a daughter, but she would not give me your name or address until we met.”
Nell looked away.
Another locked door built to keep them safe.
Another door that had trapped them.
Mara photographed the papers.
“We preserve everything. Copies in separate places. Originals handled carefully.”
“Can you get the old accident report?”
“Yes.”
“Can you get someone to believe us?”
“I can get someone to look.”
It was the first promise Nell trusted.
By noon, Mara had contacted a federal investigator she knew from a previous case and arranged a meeting.
By two, she had obtained Rose’s original message to her office.
A receptionist had written down an additional detail that never reached Nell.
Rose believed someone close to Carmine had found her.
The note included a meeting location.
A diner outside Baton Rouge.
May you like
And the name of the person Rose had agreed to meet.
Odette Puit.
