Chapter 3 - The Woman They Called Confused.
Emma reached Table Twelve seconds behind Adrian.
Eleanor was still seated upright, but a wineglass had shattered beside her plate.
A manager hovered nervously while two guests stared from across the room.
Eleanor's face was furious, not frightened.
She signed at Emma the instant she saw her.
He took my bag.
Emma looked at Adrian.
“Where is her handbag?”
Adrian's expression closed.
“At home.”
Eleanor signed again.
Not him.
The tall man with the blue cuff links.
Emma scanned the room.
Near the bar stood Marcus Hale, chief financial officer of Whitmore Holdings, recognizable from business magazines and charity photographs.
His navy tuxedo looked almost black in the warm light.
His cuff links were bright blue stones.
Marcus smiled when he noticed Emma staring.
Adrian followed her gaze.
“What is she saying?”
Emma made a choice.
“She says she dropped her glass.”
Eleanor's eyes sharpened.
Emma signed beneath the table where Adrian could not see clearly.
Later.
Eleanor gave the smallest nod.
Adrian escorted his grandmother from the restaurant twenty minutes later.
Before leaving, Eleanor paused beside Emma and touched two fingers to her heart.
Thank you.
Adrian saw that gesture too.
He said nothing.
At midnight, Emma sat in her tiny apartment across from her younger brother Noah.
Noah had been deaf since infancy and was the reason ASL felt to Emma as natural as spoken English.
He read Eleanor's letter twice.
This is dangerous, he signed.
Emma nodded.
I know.
Are you going to call?
She looked at the number.
“Yes.”
Samuel Reed answered on the second ring.
He did not sound surprised.
“Did Mrs. Whitmore give you the key?”
Emma sat straighter.
“Yes.”
“Then she chose you.”
“I didn't ask to be chosen.”
“No one useful ever does.”
Reed explained that he had represented Eleanor privately for twelve years.
Three weeks earlier, the Whitmore family had terminated his access to her and replaced him with corporate counsel.
He believed Eleanor had been pressured into signing medical and financial authorizations she did not fully understand because no qualified interpreter had been present.
“Why doesn't she simply tell her grandson?” Emma asked.
There was a pause.
“Because Adrian Whitmore signed the first restriction order.”
Emma's stomach tightened.
Reed continued.
“He claims it was temporary and for her protection.”
“But once it existed, others used it to isolate her.”
“What others?”
“Marcus Hale.”
“And Adrian's aunt, Vanessa Whitmore.”
Emma thought of the blue cuff links.
“What was in her handbag?”
“A copy of a revised trust document.”
“If Marcus has it, we may have a serious problem.”
Emma glanced toward the dark apartment window.
A black sedan was parked across the street.
Its headlights were off.
Someone sat behind the wheel.
Noah noticed her expression and turned.
The sedan pulled away.
Emma whispered into the phone.
“I think someone followed me home.”
Samuel Reed's voice changed immediately.
“Do not leave your apartment alone tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Because if Eleanor trusted you with the dome, they will assume she trusted you with whatever they are looking for.”
Emma looked toward the kitchen table where she had placed the tiny brass key.
May you like
It was gone.
The Last Translation
