And cold.
And—
And what was it she said?
The villain in your story, too.
And just this moment, it dawns on me that the hat might be connected to something else. Something emotional. Something that touches her—or rather someone.
My eyes fall onto the X she marked.
It’s only then that I see six more X’s somewhere small within all the mess of her scribbles. One directly above the name Holly Haydn Heist.
I didn’t even register it before.
So Hedda used her.
Her entire life, she was used by that woman.
I feel anger rising in my chest.
Not just anger, but rage fired by disgust at what Hedda Lagner must have done to her.
She was a twelve-year-old girl.
Used by a grown-ass woman.
I feel so bad for Avery. No child should have to endure something like this. I know, because my sister had to live through the same hell. It is why I get so protective. Why I have zero tolerance when it comes to the abuse of children. No wonder Avery is the way she is. She survived. And she kept going back, because she had no one who could save her.
My chest is tight and my stomach heavy.
“Fuck,” I breathe out, because she was right: I do pity her.
I take a photo of the wall.
I don’t want to be here any longer.
I invaded a safe place she built for herself.
My eyes fall onto the pen she used, and because I am a compassionate person, I take it and write “I’m sorry I messed up your place” onto the wall next to her bed. She might never see it, but it quiets my mind, because I didn’t mean to destroy her safe place.
I leave the studio, and the door falls closed behind me with utmost finality.
I am in the office ten minutes later. My body is exhausted, my mind is in chaos, and my emotions are all over the place.
Rachel enters my office an hour later.
“And?” I ask her.
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
“Figured,” I say. “There is only one way we get to her, and that is by catching Hedda Lagner. Avery wants the hat, Hedda has the hat, and when we get her, we’ll get Avery.”
“We’re as close to finding Hedda as we are to finding Avery,” says Rachel.
“I know, but Avery gave me some intel tonight,” I say to her, and tell her what Avery gave me about Hedda and the paintings.
I don’t show her the wall photos.
