Chapter 8 - Walter Read Every Letter
The letters were hidden exactly where Vivienne never thought to look.
Inside the lining of Lila’s red overnight suitcase.
Rebecca had taught her a little sewing before she died.
When one section of lining tore, Lila used it as a pocket.
She kept all seven letters there.
Walter came to my house.
No Vivienne.
No audience.
Lila sat beside me.
I asked:
“Do you want to give them to him?”
She nodded.
Walter read each one.
Slowly.
His face changed by the fourth.
The last said:
If you keep telling Grant things, maybe everyone will finally understand why you shouldn’t be here.
Walter set it down.
“Lila, did you ever see who put these in your things?”
“No.”
“Do you know who wrote them?”
She looked at him.
“I think Vivienne.”
“Why?”
“She says the same stuff.”
Walter did not tell her she was right.
That mattered.
He said:
“Thank you for telling me.”
Then he took photographs of every letter.
The originals stayed with me.
Finally someone treated Lila’s story exactly as it should have been treated from the beginning.
Not automatic certainty.
Not automatic doubt.
May you like
Evidence worth preserving.
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