The following morning, Isabella sat opposite me at the kitchen table while Victoria worked through the documents beside us.
My mother looked exhausted, but there was something different about her now. The fear that had followed her since she returned was still there, but it no longer controlled her.
“The solicitor confirmed the records are genuine,” Isabella said. “He still has copies of several documents your grandfather gave him.”
“Will he testify to that?”
“Yes.”
Relief moved through me.
“And the payments to Nancy?”
Victoria turned her laptop towards me.
“They are real too. Payments were made through two companies connected to Arthur. They started several months after Nancy discovered Isabella was alive.”
I looked at my mother.
“So Arthur paid her to keep quiet.”
“That is wha
