I sat on the edge of the bed until dawn.
Then, just before ten, the guards arrived.
“Eleanor Vance. It’s time.”
I stood.
The transfer corridor smelled of disinfectant.
Officers checked the paperwork while I waited near the observation room.
Then I saw Silas.
He’d come to witness my departure.
Of course he had.
He couldn’t resist one last opportunity to feel victorious.
Our eyes met through the glass.
He smiled.
I didn’t.
A supervising official entered carrying a folder.
“Before this transfer proceeds, we need to address new information concerning a previously unresolved disappearance.”
Silas’s smile faltered.
“What information?”
I stepped toward the microphone.
“Clara Thorne.”
His face changed.
The official looked at me.
“Please repeat the information you provided yesterday.”
I did.
I described the farm outside Lexington.
The old storage building.
The records Clara had discovered.
The belongings Beatrice admitted she’d kept.
