Meet me. Top floor of the old wing, the part they're remodeling. No police, no Henry, just us. I'll tell you everything you want to hear. One last time. " The reply did not come for several minutes, and in the waiting, Henry watched the confidence drain out of all of them.
When Simon's answer finally arrived, it was not the easy agreement they had hoped for. "Why there? Why now? You've been lying to me for 6 weeks, Leia. " "He doesn't believe it," Leia whispered. "He smells it.
I told you he's careful. Then we give him the one thing that's never lied to him, Alvarez said and turned to Denise. Now. Denise lifted the phone with hands that were perfectly steady, though her face was not. She dialed the number she had once dialed to plan a wedding and when Simon answered the warmth she put into her voice was the hardest thing Henry had ever watched anyone do.
Simon, honey, it's me, she said. I know I know it's late. Listen to me. She's been a wreck since the accident. She's not thinking straight.
And that man has his hooks in her again and I have had enough of watching her throw her life away. Her voice caught in exactly the place a worried mother's voice would catch and Henry understood that some of it was not performance at all. I talked to her tonight the way I used to and she listened, Simon. She's up there waiting for you right now because I told her to be. Don't you dare make a liar out of me after everything I've done for the two of you.
Go to her. Be kind and bring my girl home. Whatever doubt had been holding Simon at the threshold, it could not survive the sound of the one person who had always told him he was right. There was a silence on the line and then his voice came back smooth and certain again and the danger in it was all the worse for how pleased it sounded. I always knew you were the sensible one in that family, he said.
Half an hour. Half an hour. Denise lowered the phone and set it down very carefully and then she put her hand flat against the wall and breathed as though she had run a great distance. He's coming, she said. God help me, he believed me and he's coming.