Chapter Fifteen Q: The Woman Who Opened the Door
Becca arrived at Evan’s house carrying a paper bag filled with cardboard, glue, and a small wooden ruler.
She had offered to help Iris repair the model, but Iris told her that the interview needed to come first.
Evan sat at the dining table where he could see both of them.
Lila stayed in the kitchen with the door open.
Iris asked Becca when she first realized Nolan was lying.
Becca looked toward the broken model and answered without hesitation.
She had noticed the first inconsistency two years earlier, when a vendor complained that her booth number appeared on two different receipts.
Nolan told Becca that the vendor had misunderstood the paperwork.
Becca believed him because he had just offered her a steady job after her own business failed.
A month later, she saw a second vendor holding an identical number.
She asked Nolan to correct the records.
He said the duplicate was a harmless printing error and reminded her how difficult it had been for her to find work.
Becca understood the reminder as a warning.
She continued working because her rent was due and her father’s medical bills had begun arriving.
Iris asked whether those pressures explained entering somebody else’s house.
Becca shook her head.
They explained why she had been afraid to lose the job, but they did not excuse what she had done.
She said she had convinced herself that taking the banner was a small task compared with the trouble Nolan claimed it would prevent.
Evan asked why she had not contacted him directly.
Becca said Nolan had described Evan as aggressive and had shown her a photograph of him arguing with a delivery driver.
Evan remembered the incident.
The driver had nearly backed into a child riding a bicycle, and Evan had shouted for him to stop.
Becca looked ashamed when she heard the context.
She had accepted a single photograph as proof of a man’s character.
Iris asked whether she could include that admission in the film.
Becca agreed, but she asked Iris not to include her father’s illness because he had not chosen to become part of the story.
Iris accepted the boundary.
She had already decided that the film did not need every private hardship to explain a public mistake.
After the interview, Becca opened the bag and offered the repair materials.
Iris said she would take the glue but wanted to fix the model herself.
Becca nodded and left the bag on the table.
Before leaving, she turned to Evan.
She asked whether he planned to report the trespass.
Evan said he had already documented the incident and would decide how to proceed after speaking with Lila.
Becca said she would answer any questions truthfully.
He did not promise that the matter would end there.
When the door closed, Iris looked at the recording.
She had expected the interview to make her feel certain about Becca.
Instead, it had made her understand how a person could be frightened and responsible at the same time.
