She declined to answer questions and was escorted out to address the matters under investigation.

I heard her heels fade down the corridor.

“Is it over?” Desmond asked.

“Not even close,” Tessa said.

“But the evidence is finally somewhere it cannot be quietly rewritten.”

That was when Pearl’s nurse knocked softly on the study door.

“She’s awake,” she said.

“And she’s asking for both of you.”