Chapter 212: Case Closed
Elena was quiet for a moment. "The restitution fund. Forty-two million in frozen assets. The legal process takes time but it moves." She paused. "There’s something else."
"What," said Sean.
"The federal investigation into the hospital data pipeline," said Elena. "The oversight body contacted me this afternoon. The supplementary policy analysis submitted with your documentation package has been formally entered into their review process." Another pause. "They want to speak to the author directly."
"Amara already knows," said Sean.
"Of course she does," said Elena, with the dry quality she reserved for things that didn’t surprise her. "Tell her the contact will come through official channels within the week."
"I’ll tell her," said Sean.
"Mr. Miller," said Elena.
"Yeah."
"The Moyer case started this," she said. "Patricia’s document. A sixty-year-old conditional clause in a storage unit. That thread connected to Hargreave which connected to Cole which connected to forty-seven girls in four cities." She paused. "You followed it to the end."
"Max followed it," said Sean.
"You and Max," said Elena. "Don’t distribute it away entirely. It doesn’t become accurate."
Sean almost smiled. "Thank you, Elena."
"I’ll send the full arraignment documentation tomorrow," she said. "For your records."
The call ended.
He stood in the hallway for a moment longer.
Then he went back inside.
—--------------
Mia was off the phone.
She was standing at the window l with her arms loosely crossed, her back to the room, the specific posture of someone who had just finished something large.
Makima was at the table with her tea, giving Mia the space she was giving herself.
Sean sat down.
After a while Mia turned around.
Her eyes were slightly red at the edges. She didn’t do anything about that. Just came back to the table and sat down.
"She cried," said Mia.
"I know," said Makima.
"For a long time," said Mia. "I kept telling her I was okay and she kept crying anyway. My mother does that. She needs to hear a thing several times before it lands." She held her cup, the tea long cold now. "She asked me why I didn’t tell her sooner."
"What did you say," said Makima.
"I told her I was afraid of what she’d think," said Mia. "She got very quiet when I said that. Which is how she sounds when she’s choosing her words carefully." She looked at the table. "She said I was her daughter and there was nothing I could do that would make her think less of me and that if I ever felt that way again I should call her immediately because that was what she was for."
"She sounds like someone worth knowing," said Makima.
"She’s the best person I know," said Mia. "Which made the idea of her knowing worse. Not better." She looked up. "That’s the specific thing they design into it. The shame makes you protect it from the people who would actually help."
Makima held her gaze steadily.
"You protected yourself with the list," said Makima. "Same instinct. Different direction."
Mia looked at her for a long moment.
"She wants me to come home," said Mia. "Tonight."
"Then go," said Makima.
"I know," said Mia. "I’m going." She didn’t move immediately. "I just need a minute."
Nobody told her the minute was more than that.
===================
Sean told her about Elena’s call while she was putting on her jacket.
The arraignments. The firm closed. Whitfield Crossing suspended. The restitution fund moving.
Mia listened to all of it with her jacket half-on, standing in the middle of Makima’s living room.
When he finished she looked at the floor for a moment.
"Hargreave," she said.
"Yes," said Sean.
"He walked through that house," she said. "He walked through and looked at us and we didn’t exist for him."
"He’s in custody," said Sean.
"I know," she said. "I just needed to say it out loud." She looked up. "Both things at once. He walked through that house and he’s in custody. They’re both true at the same time."
"Yes," said Sean.
She finished putting her jacket on.
Looked at Makima.
"Thank you," she said. "For today. For Friday. For." She stopped. "For being a specific kind of person."
"Come back sometime," said Makima. "Not because of anything. Just to come back."
Mia looked at her for a moment. "Okay."
She looked at Sean.
"I’m going to figure out what comes next," she said. "I told you that on Thursday."
"I know," said Sean.
"I meant it," she said.
"I know that too," said Sean.
She held his gaze for a moment with the evaluating quality that had been there since a road on a Sunday afternoon six days ago, except what it was evaluating had changed. Not him. Something else. The specific thing you evaluated when you were standing at the beginning of something rather than inside something you hadn’t chosen.
"Call me when you’ve talked to Elena," said Sean.
"I will," said Mia.
She walked to the door.
Paused.
"Sean," she said without turning around.
"Yeah."
"The notebook," she said. "The one I gave you for the documentation package."
"Yes."
"Can I have it back eventually," she said. "When the legal process doesn’t need it anymore."
He looked at her back.
"Yes," he said.
She nodded once.
Opened the door.
Walked out.
—---------------
The building was quiet after she left.
Sean stood at Makima’s window and watched the street below until he saw Mia come through the entrance, James already there with the car, and she got in and the Rolls Royce pulled away into the Sunday evening.
Makima stood beside him.
Neither of them said anything for a moment.
"She’s going to be alright," said Makima. The same thing she’d said before.
"Yes," said Sean.
"I’m saying it again because it’s still true," said Makima.
He looked at her.
She looked back with the expression that was there when she was being precise.
"The list," she said. "Two months of a notebook. Do you know what that takes."
"Yes," said Sean.
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Author Note
Please check Chapter comments for character art