Chapter 14 - The Return to the Ruins
Elena didn't ask Julian to go with her. She took her own small truck, driving through the driving rain up the long, winding hill to the Sterling manor. The iron gates were padlocked, but the pedestrian gate was unlatched, swinging loosely in the wind.
The house was completely dark, a looming, gray monolith against the stormy sky. Elena walked through the side door, using a small utility flashlight to guide her steps. The air inside smelled of stale cold, damp upholstery, and dust.
She found Victoria in the formal dining room.
The older woman was sitting at the head of the long mahogany table, wrapped in an old mink coat that had lost its sheen. Around her, thirty empty chairs stood like silent sentinels. On the table before her was a single plate—a cheap, chipped ceramic saucer holding a slice of dry, packaged bread.
When the beam of Elena’s flashlight hit the mahogany surface, Victoria did not flinch or scream. She simply turned her hollow, exhausted face toward the light.
"Did you come to laugh?" Victoria asked, her voice a dry rasp in the cold room.
May you like
Elena switched off the flashlight, setting it upright on the sideboard so its beam bounced gently off the high plaster ceiling, filling the space with a soft, ambient glow. She walked forward and set a thermos of hot chicken broth and a pair of insulated thermal gloves on the table.
"No," Elena said softly. "I brought you soup."
