Two O'clock

Chapter 35

Two O’Clock

Elena walked into the kitchen with two garment bags over her arm and her phone in her hand and the particular expression of a woman who had been managing chaos since before sunrise and was not finished yet.

She stopped when she saw Judith.

“You look exhausted,” she said.

“Thank you Elena,” Judith said.

Elena put the garment bags over the back of a chair. “I brought options. I did not know what you would want so I brought three things.” She looked at Ethan. “Your suit is in the grey bag. Dan yours is in the black one. I called Robert’s lawyer on the way here. He wants everyone in the conference room by one thirty so there is time to brief properly before the press arrive at two.”

“How many press,” Dan asked.

“Twelve outlets confirmed,” Elena said. “Possibly more by the time we get there.” She sat down at the table and opened her phone. “Sarah Okafor is already at the hotel. She has been managing the room since this morning.” She looked around the table. “The counter story is still running but it is losing ground. Three journalists who were initially running it have already pulled back after seeing the financial records.” She paused. “Whitmore’s lawyers sent a legal threat to two of the outlets an hour ago.”

“Did it work,” Ethan asked.

“No,” Elena said. “It made things worse for him. One of the outlets published the legal threat itself as part of the story.”

Dan looked at Ethan. “He is panicking.”

“Good,” Ethan said.

Lily slid down from her chair and went to Grace who was standing in the doorway. “Can we go back to the swing.”

Grace looked at Judith.

“Yes,” Judith said. “Stay with Grace sweetheart.”

Grace took Lily’s hand and they went out through the back door into the garden.

The kitchen felt different without her in it. Quieter in a way that reminded everyone at the table what they were walking into this afternoon.

Judith reached for the garment bags and stood up. “I am going to get changed. Give me fifteen minutes.”

She went upstairs.

The room Grace had prepared was small and simple. A bed with a white cover. A window looking out over the back garden. She could see Lily on the swing from here, Grace pushing her gently, Lily’s head thrown back laughing up at the sky.

Judith stood at the window for a moment.

Then she unzipped the garment bag.

Elena had brought a navy dress. Simple, fitted, professional. The kind of thing that said I am serious without trying too hard. Judith put it on and looked at herself in the small mirror on the wall.

She looked tired. That was true. But she also looked like herself and that was enough.

She went back downstairs.

Ethan was already changed. Dark suit, no tie, the folder in his hand. He looked up when she came into the kitchen and said nothing. Just looked at her for one second then looked away.

Dan was on the phone again. He raised one finger when she came in. One minute.

Elena was typing something on her phone at the table.

Judith sat down and picked up the handwritten list Ethan had made earlier. She read through it again slowly. Names. Key points. The order of things. She had been over it three times already but she wanted it in her head so completely that nothing anyone said this afternoon could knock her off it.

Dan ended his call. “Robert is at the hotel. His lawyer has the full file ready. Everything we have is printed and packaged for every journalist in that room.”

“Good,” Ethan said.

“There is one more thing,” Dan said. He looked at Judith. “Richard Blackwood has called a separate press conference. Same time as ours. Different location.”

The kitchen went quiet.

“He is trying to split the coverage,” Elena said.

“Yes,” Dan said.

Judith looked at the list in her hand. Then she put it down on the table.

“Let him,” she said.

Everyone looked at her.

“He can talk to as many cameras as he wants,” she said. “We have the recording, the financial records, Robert’s statement and camera footage of him threatening my daughter on a public street this morning.” She looked around the table. “What does he have.”

Nobody answered.

“Let him talk,” she said again.

Ethan looked at her across the table.

For a moment he said nothing.

Then he picked up his keys. “Right. We should leave.”

They moved quickly after that. Elena gathered her things. Dan checked in with Robert one more time. Judith went to the back door and crouched down as Grace brought Lily over from the swing.

Lily’s cheeks were red and her hair was all over the place.

“Are you going now,” Lily asked.

“Yes,” Judith said. “I will be back before dinner. I promise.”

Lily looked at her carefully. “Is it the big thing.”

“Yes.”

Lily put both hands on Judith’s face the way she did sometimes when she wanted her full attention.

“You are brave Mummy,” she said seriously.

Judith looked at her daughter’s face.

“Where did you get that from,” she said.

“Grace told me,” Lily said. “She said you are the bravest person in the house.”

Judith looked up at Grace who was standing behind Lily with a small smile and said nothing.

Judith looked back at Lily. “Thank you sweetheart.”

She kissed her forehead and stood up.

Dan was waiting at the front door. Ethan was already outside on the gravel. Elena was in the car.

Judith took one last look at the garden. The swing still moving slightly on its own. The green grass. The white and purple flowers along the path.

Then she walked out to the car and got in.

They drove back toward London.

Toward two o’clock.

Toward everything that came after it.