Chapter 3 - The Note Walter Didn't Want To Follow
Walter refused to let me read the note until Julia asked too.
That irritated me.
It also stopped me from simply taking it.
Progress measured in inches.
We moved to a quiet seating area near the hotel entrance attached to the mall.
Graham kept his security men away.
The girls sat together on a sofa.
Not talking much.
Watching us.
Walter placed the folded paper on the table.
Beside it, five hundred dollars.
Julia stared.
“What is that?”
Walter sighed.
“Your mother’s idea of subtlety.”
He unfolded the note.
It was in Diane Carter's handwriting.
I recognized the sharp D.
Walter—
Entrance C, 4:00.
Julia believes Claire agreed to ten minutes.
Claire needs to see Ava before she can decide she doesn't want to.
Let the girls have something pleasant while the adults stop pretending nine years is a personality trait.
$250 each. No lectures.
D.
I looked up.
“You agreed to this?”
Walter’s face hardened.
“I showed up to tell her no.”
“She's not here.”
“Exactly.”
Julia took the note.
“She told me Claire asked.”
Walter looked at her.
“She told me you believed Claire agreed.”
“Same manipulation with extra grammar.”
I almost smiled.
Didn’t.
I pointed at the money.
“You were going to give this to the girls.”
“No.”
Walter pushed it away.
“I was going to hand it back to Diane.”
“Then why wait?”
“Because your daughter dropped her wallet.”
I looked at Lily.
She frowned.
“I went to get a pretzel.”
“You left the store?”
“You were paying.”
I closed my eyes.
She had been ten yards away.
Maybe fifteen.
Enough.
Walter continued.
“I saw the wallet fall. Picked it up. Saw the name inside.”
LILY CARTER.
He had known the name from Diane’s note.
“So you said Lily.”
“Yes.”
“She thought you knew her.”
“Yes.”
Lily looked embarrassed.
“I asked if he was Grandpa Walter.”
My head snapped around.
“What?”
She looked at Julia.
“No. I mean—Grandma has a picture.”
I turned to Walter.
He sighed.
“I’m Diane's brother.”
My uncle.
Not a stranger.
A man I had not seen since I was twelve.
The last photograph I remembered had brown hair and no cane.
I looked away.
Great day for faces.
Walter continued.
“Lily spoke to me for perhaps thirty seconds. Then she saw Julia near the curb.”
Lily whispered:
“I thought Mom changed her hair.”
Julia actually laughed.
Once.
I didn't.
“So Lily went outside.”
“Yes.”
Walter continued.
“Then Ava came through the entrance looking for Julia. You arrived from the other direction.”
I had seen dark hair.
Navy cardigan.
A child beside Walter.
Then decided.
Everything after had happened too quickly for my brain to admit the first decision might be wrong.
Julia looked at the note again.
“She planned the confusion.”
“No,” Graham said.
We all turned.
He had been standing several feet away.
“Mrs. Carter planned proximity. Not the girls crossing.”
I stared.
“You sound like corporate counsel.”
“I sound like a man who told her this was a bad idea.”
“And still provided SUVs.”
Graham’s mouth tightened.
“Yes.”
His part.
Julia leaned back.
“Where is Diane?”
Graham didn't answer immediately.
That annoyed both of us.
“Graham.”
He looked at Julia.
“She went home.”
I laughed.
“She engineered this and left?”
“She said if she stayed, neither of you would stay.”
Walter muttered:
“First accurate thing in the note.”
I looked at the paper again.
One line bothered me more than the rest.
Claire needs to see Ava before she can decide she doesn't want to.
Julia saw where I was looking.
“That's what she thinks of you.”
I turned.
“And she told you I asked to meet.”
Julia looked down.
We both knew what that meant.
Diane had described each daughter to the other in whatever form would make the next step easier.
Just like before.
Julia folded the note.
Then said:
“I’m leaving tomorrow morning.”
“For where?”
“Denver.”
My chest tightened unexpectedly.
“For how long?”
She looked at me.
“I live there, Claire.”
Of course she did.
I hadn't known.
May you like
Then she added:
“Mom did this because I told her I was done waiting for you.”
