I acted in good faith. Did you? Daniel said. It was not a question. Patricia met his eyes.
Daniel, I have known you for 15 years. I knew your wife. I have only ever wanted what was best for this family. What's best for this family, Daniel said, is what's standing in this room right now. And I'll thank you to let us be."
Patricia looked at Clara one last time. Something moved across her face that was harder to categorize than the social performance that had preceded it. Something almost like recognition, like seeing in Clara something she did not want to acknowledge. Then she nodded once, gathered her coat, and walked out. The sheriff held the door for her.
He looked back at Daniel before he left. For what it's worth, he said quietly, "What you're doing with the bank complaint? My brother-in-law farms the Hendrickx property on the South Ridge. He's had trouble, too. He paused. I can't be involved officially, but if you need a character witness who has relevant experience with Gerald Hollis's business practices, you might talk to Tom Hrix.
Daniel held his gaze. I'll do that. Thank you, Roy. The sheriff nodded and left. The door closed. The room held the specific charged silence of a space that has just been evacuated of something toxic.
Rose appeared at the bottom of the stairs. She had come down at some point during the exchange. Clara hadn't seen her move, and she was standing there in her socks with her hands pressed against her cheeks in her signature expression of overwhelming feeling. "You had the letter the whole time," she said to Clara. "The whole time," Clara confirmed.
"That's like in the story," Rose said. "The one where the woman walks through the forest and she's not afraid because she already knows the way out." Clara looked at her. "Yes," she said softly. "Something like that."
Emma sat down on this bottom stair. She sat down suddenly, the way a person sits when their legs have decided before their brain has, and she put her face in her hands and breathed for a moment. Daniel crossed to her immediately. He crouched in front of her. "Emma."
Emma lifted her face. Her eyes were bright and fierce. I believed her, she said for 3 seconds when she said those things about Miss Clara. I I believed her. I felt it.
Her voice cracked. I was so angry at myself. 3 seconds is human. Clara said, "What you do with the fourth second is what matters." Emma looked at her.