Elena didn't dare breathe, every nerv

d into the dim orange light - an old man in a worn coat, sheltering

eath the awning, leaving Elena alone with her racing heart and the hu

ulse to steady, and made herself keep walking.

d, except the long, cold walk back towards wher

*

ad eased into a thin, steady drizzle, but t

ad gone to bed, a glass of untouched whisky sweating on the d

. That a father's duty was to protect the child in front of him wh

d

and asked, quite simply, why Victoria had waited to re

d refused to entertain it at the time, too swept up in Victoria's t

rank, letting the burn settle s

Margaret let herself in, wrapped in her dres

she said, though it wa

, and Margaret sat, folding her hands neatly in her lap in the way she alway

efully, "I think we need

ore to discuss. I

ned gentle, but there was a firmness beneath it he wasn't accustomed to he

ened. "She showed t

." Margaret leaned forward slightly. "Doesn't that strike you as strange? If Elena truly had betrayed Daniel, why

ce hardened, though something in his stoma

ight. Elena has never lied to us before, Richard. Not once, in twenty-five years. And yet the moment Victoria presen

ndow, staring out at the dark, wet garden bey

"But you raised Elena from the day she was born. You know her heart better th

hem, filled only by the soft patter of rain against the windo

quieter than Margaret had heard it in years. "Victoria was so certain.

g rarely look uncertain while doing it," Margaret said

yes now, the whisky glass still clutched loosely in his hand. "

ent based on a few seconds of evidence none of us properly examined. Elena is out there tonight, alone, in the rain, w

vily on the desk, some of the

wn daughter out over a lie, I need to know. Proper

w. Properly, carefully, without Victoria mana

till sat heavily across his shoulders, guilt beginning to

ht the first time? If Elena re

y, Richard, we owe her the chance to prove her side properly, in a ro

arden, replaying the evening over and over in his mind - Elena's voice cracking as she begged him to listen, the flicker of something

t o

ertain, standing here now in the quiet of

*

yed at her father's house, Victoria lay awake listening to

t well enough - her mother's careful, persistent tone, the kind she used wh

mach tightened

undly beside her, and crept to the top of the staircase,

*, *tomorrow*, *owe her the chance* - but t

every detail she'd planned and executed with such precision, her own mother was quietly pl

behind her, and sat on the edge of the bed with her hear

sted on examining the messages more carefully tomorrow, the flaws

ing that would end any lingering doubt befo

ie, the friend who'd helped her purchase the second device, her

ight. I need something bigger than the messag

iting, her mind already racing through possib

within minutes, sh

But you're not going to

of whatever Sophie was about to suggest and the far greater fear

de her, of the ring on her finger, of everythi

d, her hand trembling only

ll