The Necklace They Gave Me Last novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Great Hall

Susannah's POV

My phone rang at one in the morning, and I picked it up half asleep.

"Dermot?"

The line was open, and I could hear a door shutting and a woman's voice.

"Looking for something, Dermot?"

It was Pauline.

Then the call cut off.

I sat up in the dark with my heart pounding.

A message was waiting under the missed call, a photograph of a typed page with a line of pencil under one paragraph, and under it three lines in his careful way.

"Do not come to the house. Do not wear it for anyone. I'll explain."

I read the paragraph twice, then a third time, slowly.

If I wore the necklace in front of them and they refused me, the house and every stipend would pass to me.

My mother had written that fifteen years ago.

She had known exactly what they would do, and she had built a door for me to walk through.

Let them say no a second time, her letter had said.

I called Dermot back.

It rang out.

I called again, and it went to voicemail.

I got out of bed and dressed in the dark, and I opened the safe, and I put the necklace around my neck.

It was cold against my skin, and it was heavy, and for the first time it felt like mine.

I drove to the estate in two hours without once looking at the speed.

The gate stood open.

Every window of the great house was lit.

A security guard stood at the foot of the steps, and he did not stop me.

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