Chapter 23: A Second Operator

Peter arrived in the afternoon with June and a portable speaker from his theater workshop.
They met Elena in the kitchen because the inspectors had sealed the workshop entrance.
June placed an old rehearsal diagram on the table.
“I finally remembered why there were two operators,” she said.
“The second person wasn’t just moving walls.”
She pointed to a narrow rectangle at the far edge of the drawing.
“That person watched the exit into the courtyard.”
Peter leaned closer.
“So somebody was supposed to see me come through.”
“Yes,” June answered.
“But the operator’s station was empty that night.”
Elena asked whether Lorraine had been assigned to it.
June shook her head.
“Lorraine organized the volunteers, but the operator schedule changed every rehearsal.”
Peter stared at the diagram.


“For years I thought I was the one who made a wrong turn.”
June moved the paper toward him.
“You followed a route we taught you to follow,” she said.
“The adults failed to keep it supervised.”
The words landed heavily in the quiet kitchen.
Peter stood and walked to the window.
“I want to know who left,” he said.
“But I don’t want another twenty years spent chasing somebody who won’t answer.”
Elena looked at the marked exit.
“Then we find out what this equipment was being used for now,” she said.
“That part is happening in front of us.”
A knock sounded at the front door.
Officer Shah stood outside holding a folded inspection notice.
She told them that Graham Bell had been contacted and had agreed to meet investigators on Monday.


Then she added something that made Elena’s stomach tighten.
“Westbridge has been advertising a private preview for tomorrow,” Shah said.
“The address on the invitation is yours.”

Chapter 24: The Address on the Invitation

Shah showed Elena a printed copy of the invitation supplied by a prospective customer.
It promised an immersive theatrical experience inside a restored historic workshop.
The advertisement included a photograph of Elena’s rear gate, taken before she moved in.
The date was Sunday, and the arrival window began at ten in the morning.
Elena stared at the picture of her property.
“They’re inviting strangers into my yard,” she said.
“Without telling me.”
Hsu had already notified the company that the event could not proceed, Shah explained.
But some guests might have received the invitation before the cancellation.
Elena asked whether she should put up a sign.
“A clear sign on your own gate is sensible,” Shah said.
“Don’t confront anyone who arrives, and call us if someone refuses to leave.”
Peter offered to help her print the notice.
June remained at the table, examining the photograph of the rear gate.
“That’s not how the gate looked when Mrs. Hartwell used it,” she said.
“Someone has installed a new latch.”
Elena remembered the white door’s scratches and the fresh paint covering the old symbol.
A different question occurred to her.
“If Westbridge planned a preview tomorrow,” she said, “why did Lorraine think the equipment was being collected today?”
Shah considered the discrepancy.
“Perhaps the company changed its plans,” she said.
“Or perhaps the people involved weren’t telling each other the same thing.”
Elena followed her to the porch.
The street looked ordinary again, with children riding bicycles and a man washing his car two houses away.
For the first time since moving in, Elena understood how easily an apparently quiet place could conceal a very active dispute.
She taped a notice to the front gate and another to the rear entrance.
Both said the workshop was closed and that no event had been authorized.
Then she went inside and began preparing for Sunday, not by setting a trap, but by making sure the doors belonged to her again.