Chapter 6: The Gala

Cora read the lawsuit standing on the step with three cameras watching her.

It was twelve pages long.

It said she had copied the Maddox source code onto a personal drive and planned to sell it.

It did not say that she had written it.

She turned the envelope toward the nearest lens.

"Good morning," she said. "I've been served with a lawsuit that says I stole my own work."

The reporter holding the microphone blinked.

"I'll be at the Maddox charity gala on Saturday," Cora said. "Mr. Maddox can explain it to me in person."

She went inside and shut the door.

Pearl was sitting at the kitchen table in her robe with both hands over her mouth.

"They'll take the trailer," Pearl whispered.

"They won't," Cora said, and her voice was steady. "They can't prove a single line of it is theirs, Gran. Not one."

The phone buzzed on the counter.

It was a text from Ronan.

It said: Withdrawn by Friday. My lawyer is already on it.

She read it twice.

She typed: I didn't ask you to.

He answered: I know. It's on my bill.

Pearl read it over her shoulder and sniffed.

"I like him," she said.

"He's an investor, Gran."

"He's an investor who fixes roofs," Pearl said. "Wear the green dress."

The green dress belonged to the woman in lot six, who had once sung in a church choir in Dayton and owned exactly one gown.

It fit Cora across the shoulders and was an inch too long.

Pearl pinned the hem in the mirror with her mouth full of safety pins.

"You look like a queen," she said around them.

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