Chapter 16: The Flowers Heard

The back room had one door and one table, and my flowers sat in the middle of it.

Tierney closed the door herself.

"Just us three, Miri," she said. "Declan can wait outside with the canapés."

Declan had stopped in the hallway with his jaw set.

I nodded to him, and he let the door shut between us.

Darren set the briefcase on the table and opened it.

Inside was a small laptop with its lid half up, and a camera lens pointing at my chair.

The green light was steady now.

"Insurance," Tierney said. "So nobody can rewrite tonight later."

"Fine."

Darren took a flat black wand from his pocket and walked it along the walls.

He ran it under the table and around the legs of my chair.

It stayed quiet.

He stopped in front of the vase, and Tierney waved her hand.

"Leave the flowers," she said. "It's Miriam's art. I wouldn't insult her."

My heart pounded so hard I thought it would show in my dress.

I set the gym bag on the table.

"One million," I said. "Count it."

Darren unzipped the bag and began to thumb through the bundles.

Tierney sat down across from me and folded her hands.

She looked relaxed, and happy, and exactly as she had on the morning of my wedding.

"Say it for the camera, Miri," she said. "Say you're paying Darren to keep quiet about the night you attacked him."

"I'm paying for the iron," I said. "And for the truth."

"The truth is the iron."

"Then tell it to me. You've kept it for ten years. Say it to my face just once."

Tierney tilted her head.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because it's me," I said. "Because you taught me that if I asked nicely, you'd always tell me."

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