My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
“This isn’t proof of anything,” I said. “It’s just an argument.”
“I know,” Nora said. “That’s why I never showed anyone.”
“But it’s not just the texts.”
“There’s more?”
Nora nodded.
“There’s a second thing,” she said. “Something worse.”
“Tell me.”
Nora took a slow breath first.
“I need to tell you what I actually saw that night,” she said. “Not just what I heard.”
I nodded, even though every part of me wanted to stop her.
“I was in the linen closet at the end of the east hallway,” Nora said. “Folding towels.”
“The argument started in Eleanor’s study, down the hall.”
“I heard raised voices, but I couldn’t make out every word at first.”
“Then I heard Eleanor say the word trust, loud and clear.”
“After that, I heard footsteps moving fast toward the staircase.”
“I stepped out just enough to see.”
“Eleanor was standing at the top of the stairs, holding the railing.”
“Vanessa was a few feet behind her, still talking.”
“I couldn’t hear what she said. Her voice had gone quiet by then.”
“Then Eleanor turned to walk down. Vanessa reached toward her.”
“I thought she was going to hold her arm, help her down.”
“Instead Eleanor stumbled. I heard her cry out.”
“By the time I got there, she was at the bottom, not moving.”
“Vanessa was already kneeling beside her, screaming for help.”
“Screaming louder than I’d ever heard anyone scream.”
“I remember thinking, in that moment, it had to be an accident.”
“No one screams like that over something they did on purpose.”
“Now I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
I sat with that for a long moment, the room spinning slightly.
“Did you tell the police any of this,” I asked. “At the time.”
“I told them what I saw at the bottom of the stairs,” Nora said. “Not what I saw at the top.”
“Vanessa asked me privately, before the police even arrived, not to mention the argument.”
“She said it would only make things harder for you, for the girls, for everyone.”
“She said grief was complicated enough without people whispering about a fight no one truly understood.”
“I believed her,” Nora said quietly. “I’ve regretted it every day since.”
“Eleanor’s doctor,” Nora said. “Dr. Whitfield.”
“What about him.”
“He and Vanessa were close. Closer than they should have been.”
“I saw them together once, before the funeral.”
“They stopped talking the second they saw me.”
I remembered Dr. Whitfield.
He had signed Eleanor’s d**th certificate.
He had also, quietly, become Vanessa’s doctor after that.
I never thought twice about it.
Now I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“I need that phone,” I said. “And I need you to write down everything you just told me.”
“Will you protect me,” Nora asked. “If Vanessa finds out I talked.”
“I will,” I said. “I promise you that.”
“What about the girls,” she said. “They can’t stay in this house with her.”
“They won’t,” I said. “Not for one more night.”
I stood up.
My legs felt unsteady.
