Chapter 7 - The Girl Who Remembered the Smoke
Mia told us Elena had driven her to Queens one afternoon, saying they were collecting donated blankets. She remembered a red vending machine, a cracked sidewalk, and a woman who argued with her mother near the warehouse office.
“Was it Isabella?” Antonio asked.
Mia shook her head. “I don't know. I only heard her voice.”
I suggested we stop. Pushing her for memories would only make the room feel dangerous. Antonio agreed. Later, as I made grilled cheese in the kitchen, Mia drew the woman from memory: tall, dark hair, a green scarf, a crescent-shaped brooch.
Helen recognized the brooch. It belonged to a former foundation director named Lydia Marsh, who had disappeared after the Queens fire.
That evening Antonio apologized to Mia for letting Isabella make her feel ashamed of her scars. He did not make a speech. He simply sat at the kitchen table and said, “I should have noticed sooner.”
Mia looked at him. “I thought you liked her more than me.”
He took a long breath. “There is no one I love more than you.”
I turned toward the sink so they could have their moment. Antonio found me there afterward. “You gave her the courage to speak.”
“She already had it,” I said. “She just needed someone to listen.”
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For a moment his hand rested over mine on the counter. Neither of us moved away.
Then Helen called. Lydia Marsh had been found alive, living under a different name in Vermont. And someone else had been asking questions about her that morning.
