The Heiress Strikes Back novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Room Above the Kitchen

Mr. Brightwell stood with his wife's arm in his hand and did not answer.

The trooper in the doorway shifted his weight.

"Sir," he said. "Is the bracelet owner pressing charges or not?"

"It's mine," said Mrs. Brightwell. "Raymond and I are the owners. She put it in my hand herself, and I am not pressing anything."

"The complaint was from Mrs. Thornley."

"Then Mrs. Thornley may take it up with me."

She had not raised her voice once.

I understood then where Aunt Dot's tone had come from, the way she'd said "I won't have it" over the stove.

She had borrowed it from a woman she'd never met.

Mrs. Thornley stepped into the room, her coat buttoned to the throat.

"Joanne, this is unwise," she said.

"Winifred, I am sixty years old. I have been unwise every day for twenty-four years, and I'm used to it."

The trooper coughed.

He unlocked the cuff from my right wrist, which was the only one that had stayed on, and gave me a stiff nod.

"You're free to go, ma'am," he said. "I'd stay out of Litchfield, though."

I walked out between them.

Mrs. Thornley did not look at me.

But as I passed her, I heard her say very low, "You've made it so much harder for yourself."

"Good," I said.

Peter was waiting in the hall with his jacket crushed in both fists.

He didn't say a word.

He put his arm around me and walked me to the truck.

We drove back to Stamford in silence, with the heater on high and his hand on my knee.

At the cottage, I stood in the kitchen with my coat on, and the shaking finally came.

"Hey," he said, and pulled me against him. "Hey. You did it. You're out."

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