Before the storm

Chapter 34

Before the Storm

Robert called back within ten minutes.

Ethan listened, nodded twice and ended the call. “He has a location. A hotel conference room in central London. Neutral ground, no connection to any of us. He can have it ready by two o’clock.”

Judith looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. It was just past ten.

“Four hours,” she said.

“Yes,” Ethan said.

Lily was still beside him working her way through the biscuits Grace had put on the table, completely unbothered by everything happening around her. Grace had quietly taken the empty cups away and brought fresh tea without anyone asking.

Judith stood up. “I need to call my mother now. Before anything else.”

Dan stood up too.

They went into the sitting room at the front of the house and left Ethan at the kitchen table with his phone and his folder. The sitting room was small and warm with two old sofas and a window that looked out onto the front garden. Judith sat on the sofa closest to the window and Dan sat on the other end of it giving her space.

She found her mother’s number and pressed call.

It rang three times.

“Judith.” Her mother’s voice was warm and a little tired the way it always was these days. “I was just thinking about you.”

“Mum.” Judith stopped for a second. Just one second. Then she started talking.

She told her everything.

Not quickly. Not the way you rip something off to get it over with. She went slowly and carefully, starting from the beginning. The contract. The real reason she had signed it. Ethan’s original intention. Dan. Lily’s father. Her father’s accident and what Dan had told her about the night he overheard Richard Blackwood on the phone. Whitmore. The recording. The press conference this afternoon.

All of it.

Her mother did not interrupt once.

When Judith finished the line was quiet for a long moment.

“Mum,” Judith said. “Say something.”

“I am here,” her mother said. Her voice was different now. Quieter. “I am just sitting with it.”

“I am sorry,” Judith said. “I should have told you so much sooner. I kept trying to protect you and I ended up just keeping you in the dark and that was not fair.”

“No,” her mother said. “It was not fair.” A pause. “But I understand why you did it. You have been carrying this family on your back since your father died and you did not want to add to the weight.” Another pause. “That does not make it right. But I understand it.”

Judith pressed her fingers against her eyes.

“Your father,” her mother said slowly. “What Dan told you about that night.”

“I know,” Judith said.

“Do you believe it.”

“Yes,” Judith said. “I do.”

Her mother was quiet again. When she spoke her voice was steady in a way that reminded Judith exactly where she had learned to keep herself together under pressure. “Then you make sure it comes out. All of it. You do not protect those people. You do not stay quiet to keep things comfortable. You stand up in front of those cameras this afternoon and you say every single thing that needs to be said.”

Judith let out a slow breath. “Okay.”

“And Judith.”

“Yes.”

“You should have called me sooner,” her mother said. “I am sick. I am not dead. There is a difference.”

Judith almost laughed. It came out somewhere between a laugh and something else entirely.

“I know Mum,” she said.

“Call me after,” her mother said. “The moment it is done.”

“I will.”

She ended the call and sat with the phone in her lap.

Dan had not said a word through any of it. He had just sat at the other end of the sofa and been there the way he said he would be.

“She is remarkable,” he said quietly.

“Yes,” Judith said. “She is.”

She stood up and straightened her cardigan. “Right. What do we need to do before two o’clock.”

Dan stood up too. “Elena is bringing clothes for you and Ethan from the penthouse. She will be here within the hour. Robert is preparing a briefing document so all three of us are saying the same things consistently. And Sarah Okafor wants to be in the room before the press conference starts so she can brief us on what questions are likely to come.”

“Is Robert bringing his lawyer.”

“Yes. His lawyer and a second one he has arranged for you specifically.”

Judith nodded. “And Lily.”

“Grace has offered to stay here with her,” Dan said. “Lily does not need to be anywhere near this.”

“No,” Judith agreed. “She does not.”

They went back into the kitchen.

Ethan looked up when they walked in. He read Judith’s face quickly the way he had learned to do and looked back down at the folder without asking anything.

Lily looked up too. “Did you call Grandma.”

Judith sat down. “Yes.”

“Is she okay.”

“She is fine,” Judith said. “She sends her love.”

Lily nodded seriously and went back to her biscuit.

Ethan slid a piece of paper across the table toward Judith. It was a handwritten list. Names. Key points. The order in which things needed to be said at the press conference for maximum clarity.

She picked it up and read through it.

It was good. Precise and clear and ordered in a way that left no gaps.

She looked at him across the table.

“This is good,” she said.

“I know,” he said simply.

Dan sat back down and looked at the list over Judith’s shoulder. “We should add the camera footage from this morning. The threat against Lily. That goes in early. Before anything else.”

“Agreed,” Ethan said. He took the paper back and added it at the top of the list.

Outside a car came up the gravel driveway.

Elena.

Grace appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Another car.”

Ethan stood up. “That is my assistant. I will get the door.”

He went out into the hallway.

Lily watched him go. Then she looked at Judith.

“Is today a big day,” she asked.

Judith looked at her daughter’s face. Open and serious and completely trusting.

“Yes,” she said honestly. “It is a big day.”

Lily thought about this. Then she picked up the last biscuit on the plate and held it out toward Judith.

“You should eat something then,” she said. “Grace says food helps.”

Judith took the biscuit.

“Grace is right,” she said.