Chapter 4 - The Card That Did Not Belong
We stood outside the upstairs suite and I could hear Lorraine's heels on the hardwood coming up the stairs.
Julian didn't turn around. He had his hand on my shoulder and his other hand already reaching for the inside pocket of his jacket. Ellis was a few steps behind Lorraine, not guiding her, not stopping her, just there. The hallway light was too bright after the dim dining room, and it made the door look darker.
The door was locked. I remembered Lorraine locking it that afternoon when she told me not to come upstairs before the donors arrived.
Julian pulled out a small brass key. He didn't ask if he could. He slid it in and turned it, and the lock clicked loud enough that I flinched.
"Julian," Lorraine said from the stairs. Her voice was even, like she was still at the table. "That is my private dressing suite."
He didn't answer her. He pushed the door open and the warm air came out, perfume and hairspray and that metallic smell of the space heater she always ran.
I stayed close to his side. The room was not a bedroom. It was a long suite with a vanity along the far wall and a full-length mirror and two rolling racks. On the vanity, foundation gala materials were spread out like someone had been sorting them in a hurry. Cream envelopes stacked, a guest list with check marks, a silver tray with place cards. And in the center, a matching invitation set.
Julian must have seen it the same time I did. He stepped in and I followed, my pink dress brushing the door frame.
On the vanity was a thick cream envelope with silver embossing along the edge, the same silver edge that had been sticking out of the black clutch downstairs. Next to it was an empty slot in a small presentation folder. The folder had two fitted pockets. One held an identical silver card. The other was empty, the shape pressed into the velvet where a card had been.
I pointed without thinking. My hand was shaking a little.
"There," I said, quiet. "She had two. Now one is gone."
Julian set his hand over mine for a second and then let go. He picked up the card that was still in the folder. It was heavy, not paper, with raised letters and a dark stripe on the back. He turned it over once. Then he looked at the empty pocket.
He reached for the other thing on the vanity, half under the guest list. It was a donor access badge on a black lanyard, the kind with a plastic sleeve. The badge had the foundation crest and a silver strip that matched the card exactly. The embossing, the pattern, even the small numbers punched along the bottom.
He held the card next to the badge. They matched.
"This isn't yours," he said, not loud. He wasn't talking to me. He was talking to the room, to the idea of it.
Lorraine appeared in the doorway. She didn't come in. She put one hand on the door frame and the other still holding the edge of her black dress like she'd come up fast. Her mouth was tight. Ellis stopped a step behind her, hands loose at his sides.
"You shouldn't bring her in here," Lorraine said. She looked past Julian to me. "Emma, sweetheart, you're confused. You saw me with the invitations earlier, yes. That doesn't mean anything. You should be downstairs with staff. This is not for children."
I felt my shoulders pull in before I could stop it. That word again. Staff.
Julian didn't move away from the vanity. He kept the card in his hand and the badge in the other.
"Then explain the empty pocket," he said to her. His voice was calm. Protective and calm the way he'd been at the table. "There were two cards in this set. One's still here. The other was in your clutch downstairs."
Lorraine crossed her arms, but it wasn't relaxed anymore. Her bracelet caught the light.
"I was organizing for the donors," she said. "One fell. Or I moved it. Emma is six, Julian. She doesn't know what she saw upstairs earlier. She's tired. She shouldn't be up here making a mess of foundation materials."
Ellis didn't say anything. He glanced at the vanity, at the empty velvet slot, then back down the hall the way they'd come, like he was making sure we were still alone up here.
Julian lowered the card but didn't put it back. He looked down at me.
"Did you touch anything on this vanity before tonight?" he asked me.
I shook my head. "No. I just saw her put the card in her clutch. From the hallway. Before dinner."
Lorraine laughed a little, too quick.
"See? From the hallway," she said. "She imagined it."
Julian looked at Lorraine then, really looked at her. The room went quiet except for the heater ticking.
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"If she imagined it," he said, "why does the badge match a card that isn't yours?"
Lorraine's hand tightened on the door frame. She didn't step inside the suite. She didn't have to. Standing at the threshold was enough to tell me she knew we'd found what she didn't want us to find.
