17
DAY 22
The sky was a deep twilight-blue when Melissa’s car pulled up to the front steps of City Hall. It was a large, gray building with two wings and a central balcony on the fourth floor that overlooked the main entrance. Light spilled out from long, rectangular windows with white shutters. Gorgeous architecture. If Melissa had been a tourist, she would have wanted to take a picture.
The chauffeur opened the door, and she climbed out of the car in an elegant, white dress and a hat with a lace veil that dipped over her eyes. “Thank you, Onica,” she muttered to the other woman. “Please wait here. This shouldn’t take long.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Lifting her skirts, she ascended the steps with as much regal dignity as she could manage. Which wasn’t much. Or maybe she was underestimating hers
