FRIDAY
7:12 A.M. — CROFT ESTATE
Elena had survived covert operations, false identities, armed men, interrogation rooms, two decades of being legally dead and a government office with beige carpeting.
None of it had prepared her for Susanna Croft with a label maker.
Elena stood in the kitchen doorway and stared.
Boxes covered half the room.
KITCHEN — FRAGILE
BATHROOM
BEDROOM
LINENS
PANTRY
THINGS ELENA SAID SHE DID NOT NEED BUT WILL ABSOLUTELY NEED
Elena pointed.
"What is that?"
Susanna looked up from taping a box.
"Kitchen utensils."
"The label."
"Oh."
Susanna read it.
"Accurate."
"I said one shopping trip."
"We had one shopping trip."
"There are fourteen boxes."
"Some things were delivered."
"That feels like a loophole."
"It is absolutely a loophole," Allison said from the island.
Elena looked at her.
"You were supposed to supervise her."
"I was never assigned that authority."
"You've been governing things all week."
"Trusts. Not mothers."
