Chapter 6 - THE VISITATION
Two weeks later,
Evelyn sat behind a glass partition in a federal holding facility.
Graham sat on the other side.
He wasn't laughing now.
His face was sallow,
his hair unkempt.
He looked like a man who had lost his soul.
“Why are you here,
Evelyn?”
he asked,
his voice a raspy whisper.
“To gloat?”
“I don't need to gloat,
Graham.
The news does that for me.”
“I’m here to give you the divorce papers.”
She slid the document into the slot.
“I’m taking the New Haven property.”
“And the trust your grandfather set up for our 'children'.”
“Since we don't have any,
and never will,
I’m donating it to the victims of your foundation fraud.”
Graham slammed his hand against the glass.
“You bitch!
You’re destroying me!”
“No,
Graham.
You destroyed yourself.”
“The moment you chose a mistress and a lie over a wife and the truth.”
“I saw the toxicology reports,
by the way.”
Graham froze.
“Toxicology?”
“The arsenic in my tea,
Graham.”
“Did you think I wouldn't check?”
“I’m an auditor.
I check everything.”
Graham looked away,
unable to meet her gaze.
“It wasn't supposed to kill you,”
he muttered.
“Just make you quiet.”
“I’ve never been good at being quiet,
Graham.”
“You should have known that.”
She stood up and smoothed her skirt.
She was wearing a new dress.
Red.
The color of victory.
“Goodbye,
Graham.”
“Enjoy the silence of your cell.”
She walked out of the room without looking back.
In the lobby,
she saw Beatrice being led to a meeting with her lawyers.
The older woman looked frail,
her "elegance" stripped away by the prison jumpsuit.
She spotted Evelyn and stopped.
“Evelyn!
Please!
Help me!”
Evelyn didn't stop.
She didn't even look in her direction.
She walked out into the sun,
feeling the warmth on her face.
May you like
The Ashcrofts were a ghost story now.
And she was the one who had finished the book.
