Chapter 7 - WHAT ODETTE SAW
Odette didn’t deny it.
She sat on the edge of the guest bed, an ice pack pressed to her mouth.
“Yes.”
Nell shut the door.
“Did you tell them where she was?”
Odette lowered the ice pack.
“Yes.”
For a moment, Nell couldn’t hear anything.
Then the room rushed back.
The ticking clock.
Traffic beyond the wall.
Her own breath, too fast.
“Why?”
“He said Carmine wanted to bring her home.”
“You knew she was hiding.”
“I thought I could fix what I’d done.”
Nell moved toward her.
Odette didn’t retreat.
“Sixteen years ago,” she said, “Rose gave me a letter for Carmine. Vittorio found me outside the study. He said Carmine had ordered him to handle it.”
“So you handed it over.”
“Yes.”
“And after the fire?”
“He told me Rose had set it. That she’d taken you into the river. That Carmine would kill anyone who repeated her accusations.”
Nell felt sick.
“You believed him?”
“I chose to.”
That was worse.
Odette’s eyes filled.
“Three years ago, I saw your mother in a grocery store outside Baton Rouge. She recognized me. She almost ran.”
“What did you do?”
“I followed her into the parking lot. I begged her to meet me.”
“At the diner.”
Odette nodded.
“She showed me a photograph of you. Grown up. She said she was tired of being afraid.”
Nell gripped the back of a chair.
“I told Vittorio that night.”
The words sat between them.
Small enough to speak.
Large enough to destroy a life.
“He asked where she worked,” Odette whispered. “What car she drove.”
“And you told him.”
“Yes.”
Nell turned toward the door.
“Nell, there’s more.”
“I’ve heard enough.”
“I kept a recording.”
Nell stopped.
Odette reached for an old phone in the bedside drawer.
“After Rose died, he came to the laundry room. I wanted him to say it wasn’t connected. I turned this on before he arrived.”
Her hands shook as she played the file.
Vittorio’s voice emerged through a faint mechanical hum.
You wanted her brought home, Odette. Don’t start pretending you didn’t help.
Then Odette’s voice.
You said nobody would get hurt.
A pause.
Vittorio answered softly.
And now you know what believing me costs.
Nell stared at the phone.
Odette looked up at her.
May you like
“He knows who you are. He has known since the night I recognized you.”
Outside the bedroom, a floorboard creaked.
