Lila Signs

Lila signed her statement at sunset.

Not in a police station. Not in a motel. In Nora's kitchen, because she said kitchens were harder for Judith to haunt when women filled them with their own noise.

Ruiz brought the formal pages. Adair read every line. Brooke made coffee. Tessa brought Daniel by video and threatened to supervise from bed. Sophie placed the purple homework drive in the center of the table like a sacred object.

Lila signed her real name first.

Lila Hart.

Then she signed the clarification that had mattered more to her than immunity language.

I was not Miles Vale's wife in fact. I was designated spouse as part of a staged investigative payout later exploited by Judith Hart Vale and related entities.

Her hand shook at the end.

Nora took the pen from her and set it down.

"Thank you."

Lila laughed weakly. "For ruining your marriage after death?"

"For giving it back complicated."

That was the best Nora could offer. It was also true.

Brooke stepped onto the back porch to take a call from Kells. Nora followed after a minute.

"Harbor Union is offering reinstatement," Brooke said.

"To you?"

"Consulting role. Independent review. Very noble language for panic."

"Will you take it?"

Brooke looked through the kitchen window at the table full of women, child, papers, and grief refusing to behave. "Maybe. If Adair writes the contract and Marcy insults it first."

Nora smiled.

Across the yard, lilies grew along the fence where Judith had planted them years ago. Nora had hated them since Sophie spoke.

She walked down the steps, pulled the first plant from the soil, and handed it to Brooke.

"Evidence?" Brooke asked.

"Gardening."

They pulled every lily before dark.

Sophie watched from the porch and did not ask to help. Some roots, Nora thought, belonged to adults. Some ground should be ready before a child put her hands in it again.