Chương 7
Maya stood carefully.
“You can take it to her.”
Helen looked at Maya for the first time.
Not at her injury.
At her.
“So it went through.”
“Yes.”
“This morning?”
“Eight forty-two.”
Helen nodded.
“I suppose that’s that.”
Maya had expected resentment.
The absence of it felt worse.
“Mrs. Greene, I’m not asking anyone to leave today.”
Helen’s eyebrows rose.
“I didn’t ask.”
“No. I know.”
“Good.”
She carried the bags toward the service hallway.
Then stopped.
“Do you drink coffee?”
Maya blinked.
“Yes.”
“Regular coffee?”
“I think so.”
“Victoria drinks something that takes nine minutes and a machine I hate.”
Maya almost smiled.
“Regular is fine.”
Helen nodded.
“I’ll make some.”
After she left, Maya looked at Wright.
“Does everyone here communicate through beverages?”
“Mostly.”
Rachel stood.
“I need to call the estate attorney.”
“Why?”
“To tell him his client assaulted mine before possession transfer finished.”
“Victoria isn’t his client.”
“The personal representative is.”
“Oh.”
Rachel paused.
“And I need to tell your insurer.”
Maya stared.
“My what?”
“Homeowner’s carrier.”
“I have a homeowner’s carrier?”
Rachel gave her a long look.
“You signed the binder yesterday.”
“I signed eighty things yesterday.”
“You own a house now.”
Maya glanced around.
“Apparently.”
Rachel walked away with her phone.
Maya remained on the stairs.
For the first time since arriving, nobody was speaking directly to her.
She listened.
Pete worked at the front lock. Metal clicked softly.
The guards murmured near the entrance.
Alvarez spoke on his phone outside.
Somewhere deeper in the house, Mrs. Greene opened and closed cabinet doors.
Upstairs, Victoria packed.
The mansion did not feel victorious.
It felt occupied by separate people having separate bad mornings.
Maya rested the ice against her hip and looked at the gold letters beneath the chandelier.
SM.
She had spent months believing the letters stood for everything Grant had taken from people.
Now they looked like two expensive shapes someone had put in a floor.
That was almost disappointing.
Her phone buzzed.
Her mother.
Maya stared at the screen.
She had promised to call after closing.
It had been forty-three minutes.
She answered.
“Hey.”
“Is it done?”
Maya looked upstairs.
“Technically.”
There was a pause.
“What does technically mean?”
“The deed recorded.”
“And?”
“Victoria was here.”
Another pause.
“Of course she was.”
Maya smiled despite herself.
Her mother had never found rich people especially mysterious.
“What happened?”
Maya considered lying.
She was twenty-eight years old, owned a mansion, had a lawyer standing twenty feet away, and still considered telling her mother she had fallen.
“Mom—”
“What happened?”
“Victoria shoved me.”
Silence.
“Maya.”
“I’m okay.”
“What happened after that?”
Maya closed her eyes.
“I slapped her.”
The silence deepened.
“You did what?”
“She shoved me onto marble.”
“I heard that part.”
“I was angry.”
“You slapped a fifty-year-old widow in her own house?”
“Forty-eight. Also, not her house.”
“That is not the part of that sentence you should correct.”
Maya looked at Wright.
He was pretending not to listen.
“Are the police there?” her mother asked.
“A deputy.”
“Oh, Jesus.”
“It’s okay.”
“No sentence beginning with a deputy ends in ‘it’s okay.’”
“I’m not arrested.”
“Yet?”
“Mom.”
“I’m asking.”
“No.”
Her mother exhaled.
“Does your lawyer know?”
“She watched the aftermath.”
“Put Rachel on the phone.”
“No.”
“Maya.”
“I’m twenty-eight.”
“And apparently twelve.”
Maya stared at the floor.
A laugh escaped her.
Her mother did not laugh.
“Are you hurt?”
“My hip.”
“Hospital?”
“No.”
“Doctor?”
“Maybe later.”
“Maya.”
“I’ll get checked.”
“Today.”
“Yes.”
“And you are not sleeping there tonight.”
Maya looked up.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“It’s my house.”
“That sentence already got you shoved once.”
Despite everything, Maya laughed again.
Wright turned his face away.
“I need to go,” Maya said.
“Call me when she leaves.”
“I will.”
“And do not hit anyone else.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“You weren’t planning to hit the first one.”
“Goodbye, Mom.”
“I love you.”
Maya’s smile faded.
“Love you too.”
She hung up.
Wright looked at her.
“Your mother seems reasonable.”
“You heard that?”
“The acoustics are excellent.”
Maya looked up at the chandelier.
“Great.”
A few minutes later Victoria descended the staircase wearing different clothes.
The gown was gone.
She had changed into cream trousers, a dark cashmere sweater, and flat leather shoes. Without the silver jewelry and formal makeup, she looked smaller and more tired.
Ellis followed with two suitcases.
Victoria carried one handbag.
She had also removed her earrings.
The red mark remained on her cheek.
Maya stood.
Victoria looked at the ice pack.
Neither woman spoke.
Helen appeared from the service corridor carrying a paper cup of coffee for Maya and a small glass container.
“Your yogurt,” she told Victoria.
Victoria looked at it.
Something happened to her face.
Not much.
Just enough.
“I don’t want it.”
“You made me drive twelve miles.”
“I didn’t make you.”
Helen’s mouth tightened.
“No. Of course not.”
Victoria reached for the container.
Their fingers touched.
For a second Maya felt like an intruder.
Not because she lacked legal possession.
Because she had stepped into nineteen years of tiny domestic habits she knew nothing about.
Victoria put the yogurt into her handbag.
Then she looked at Helen.
“You should start looking for another position.”
Maya spoke.
“I haven’t fired anyone.”
Victoria turned.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“You were talking about my employee.”
Helen’s eyebrows rose.
Maya immediately regretted the phrase.
“My employee,” she repeated, horrified. “That sounded terrible.”
Wright coughed.
Helen looked almost amused.
“Yes,” she said. “It did.”
Maya rubbed her forehead.
“I mean the employment decision is mine now. If you want to stay while I figure out what I’m doing with the property, you can.”
Helen studied her.
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not useful.”
“No.”
“How long do you expect to own the house?”
Maya glanced at Rachel, who had returned from her calls.
Rachel said nothing.
“I don’t know.”
Helen nodded slowly.
“Well. At least that’s honest.”
May you like
Victoria looked between them.
“You think honesty makes her qualified to run this place?”
