Chapter 6: The Visit
Garrick appeared at my building on the sixth day.
The concierge called up. I instructed him to deny entry. Ten minutes later my phone rang from a number I did not recognize. I let it go to voicemail. His voice on the recording was tight, stripped of the arrogance he had worn in the foyer.
“Elena, this has gone far enough. Mother is beside herself. The house is in chaos. You can’t seriously intend to throw us out of our own home. Call me.”
Our own home.
I played the message once, then forwarded it to Elena for the file.
Later that afternoon Miriam attempted a different approach. She sent a long, handwritten letter through a courier. In it she spoke of family, of forgiveness, of the importance of appearances. She offered to “overlook” my behavior at the gathering if I restored the transfers and stopped the legal actions. She signed it with a flourish and the words “With hope for reconciliation.”
May you like
I placed the letter in a clear plastic sleeve and added it to the growing evidence folder.
Hope, I had learned, was a currency they only offered when their own accounts ran dry.
