“Only if you agree.”
Sophia was awake now.
She had heard enough.
Her voice was weak, but clear.
“No.”
Everyone turned to her.
Sophia swallowed.
“She does not get to use another secret to pull Lucas back into her orbit.”
I moved beside her bed.
“You’re right.”
She looked at Ruiz.
“If there is another person, investigate them. But Eleanor does not get him alone.”
Captain Ruiz nodded.
“Agreed.”
Sixth payoff.
Sophia had been silent for months because silence had been forced on her.
Now the room listened when she spoke.
The formal interview happened that afternoon.
Not with me.
With Detective Harris, Captain Ruiz, Naomi, and Eleanor’s public defender present.
I watched later from a recording because Naomi said I needed to see my mother’s face when she said it.
Eleanor sat in a gray interview room, no makeup, hair loose around her face.
Without Sophia’s robe, without the staircase, without the house behind her, she looked smaller.
