Chapter 16: The Grey Dress

"The video is gone," Stuart said, "and I'm cancelling the ball."

He said it standing at the window of my hospital room the next morning, with his back to me.

"You are not."

"Willa, Celia has the only copy. Without it, we have a doctor, a receptionist and a pill."

"We have more than that."

"We have a hearing on Monday with no proof of the push."

I pressed the button that raised my bed.

"Who keeps the camera's recordings?" I asked.

He turned around.

"The security company. They store a copy on their own server for ninety days."

"For ninety days from when?"

He paused, and I watched his face change.

"The night of the dinner is day sixty-one," he said. "Celia deleted my account. She cannot delete theirs."

"Then phone them."

"I did that at four this morning. Their lawyer is sending a certified copy to my lawyer by Saturday noon."

"The day of the ball."

"Yes."

"And Celia thinks it's over."

"She thinks she has the only copy and a mother who just failed in a hospital," he said slowly. "She has no idea."

"Then she'll walk in happy," I said. "I want her happy."

He crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Willa, you're under orders to lie flat. You can't go."

"I can go for three hours."

"The doctor will refuse."

The doctor refused.

He stood at the foot of my bed with his arms folded and his beard drawn down in a frown.

"Mrs. Ashcroft, there's no part of this I like."

"Lothrop," I said. "I'm still Willa Lothrop."

"Miss Lothrop, there's no part of it I like."

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