The Daughter They Erased Came Back Untouchable novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: The Room Hears It
"My name is Nerina Falconieri," I said. "I am sixteen, and I will not take long."
My voice carried further than I expected.
My father half rose.
"Sit down."
"You told these people a story," I said. "I am going to let the people who were there tell it."
I looked at the double doors at the back of the gallery.
Gaetano had slipped out during the speech.
Now the doors opened, and the old housekeeper came in, small and straight, in her brown coat, with a yellow plastic sign held in both hands.
It was cracked down the middle.
Across the top it said Villa Falconieri in black letters.
She walked the whole length of the gallery between the tables, and three hundred people turned in their chairs to watch her.
"I washed those stairs," she said, in a clear, old voice. "I put this sign at the top. On the morning after, the chairman told me to throw it in the sea."
She laid it on the high table in front of my father.
"I did not throw it in the sea."
A sound went through the room.
My father said, "This woman was dismissed for theft."
"For asking where the sign went," said the housekeeper. "I have the dismissal letter. It says nothing about theft."
"Sit down, Signora."
"I will stand," she said. "I am too old to be afraid of you."
Beside me, Fiammetta let go of my hand.
She stood.
She was shaking so hard I could hear her bracelet against the table, and she looked at no one but me.
"Four years ago I slipped on wet marble," she said. "My sister caught my sleeve. It tore. She did not push me."
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