Before Hattie could decide whether to fetch someone or shut the door, the door opened on its own.

Odette stood in it.

And Hattie said the thing she remembered most clearly was Odette’s face — how the color left it all at once, top to bottom, like a shade being pulled down.

For half a second the practiced, gracious mask was simply gone, and underneath it was something cornered and afraid.

“What are you doing here,” Odette said.

It wasn’t a question.

She pulled the heavy door most of the way shut behind her, putting her body in the gap, cutting off Hattie’s view of the man.