Stamped paid.
Underneath was a handwritten note.
No additional amount accepted.
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“My accounting team tried to wire twenty-five thousand.”
“I stopped them.”
“Good.”
“They thought I had lost my mind.”
“Maybe.”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“I wanted you to know.”
Daniel looked at the note again.
“Why twenty-five?”
“Apparently that is what someone decided humiliation costs.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Your people price everything.”
“Yes.”
“So do yours.”
He looked around garage.
“Fair.”
Victoria picked up her bag.
At the door she stopped.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for having cameras.”
He nodded.
She left.
Daniel watched the Mercedes disappear.
He expected that to be the last time he saw her.
He was wrong.
Victoria met Elena Ruiz four days later.
The hospital cleaning contractor operated from a low brick building behind St. Vincent’s Medical Center.
Victoria could have sent someone.
She did not.
Elena agreed to meet only after being assured no lawyer would attend.
She was fifty-three.
Short.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
She wore navy work pants and a company polo.
When Victoria entered the small break room, Elena did not stand.
Victoria appreciated that.
“Elena.”
“Ms. Sterling.”
“Victoria.”
“No.”
The single word stopped her.
Elena folded her arms.
“I called you Ms. Sterling when I worked for you.”
“I’ll keep calling you that.”
Victoria sat opposite.
“All right.”
Neither spoke.
Finally Victoria said:
“Thomas Bell confessed to stealing the sapphire earrings.”
Elena’s face did not change.
But her fingers tightened.
Victoria continued.
“He also admitted telling me you had been inside my bedroom so I would suspect you.”
Elena stared.
“Did you come here to tell me I was right?”
“No.”
“I came to tell you I was wrong.”
Elena laughed once.
Bitter.
“That’s six years late.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Elena leaned forward.
“I don’t think you do.”
Victoria stayed quiet.
Elena continued.
“Do you know what happened after your house manager fired me?”
Victoria swallowed.
“Only what investigator found.”
“Then say it.”
The instruction hurt.
Good.
Victoria deserved discomfort.
“You lost placement with your agency.”
“Yes.”
“You were unemployed four months.”
“Five.”
Victoria nodded.
“Your landlord filed eviction notice.”
“Yes.”
“Your sister helped you stay.”
Elena looked at her.
“My daughter was applying to college.”
“She stopped.”
Victoria’s chest tightened.
“I didn’t know.”