Chapter 6: A Choice in the Yard

Elena went into the yard with an apple and a plan Vera could interrupt only by revealing herself.

Before breakfast, Mina had told her one last thing. On the night the lights failed, Sofia had shouted a name as Holt led her away: Janine. The woman in the infirmary might know what Sofia had been trying to protect. Mina agreed to give her account to investigators if they came inside and separated her from Vera first.

Tess agreed to describe the meal tickets Vera had taken. She wanted her name withheld from anyone in the housing unit until she could be moved. Elena repeated that request back to her, so Tess knew she had been heard.

Janine, still in the infirmary, had not agreed to anything. Through the glass in the medical corridor, Elena had seen her recognize Sofia’s name and turn her face to the wall. Elena left her alone. If the investigation began today, Janine would have a chance to speak without Holt standing outside her door. If she chose silence, Elena would have to respect that too. Sofia’s death could not become another reason to take a choice away from a woman in Grayhaven.

Elena had also sent the limited signal agreed before she entered Grayhaven. She used an ordinary request for medical follow-up, marked in the way the outside team would recognize. It told them she had a witness and needed the yard recordings preserved. It did not tell them to enter. They would wait for the specific event they had agreed could end her cover.

She hated that she needed another event. But Holt’s confiscation slip, Sofia’s list, and the women’s accounts still needed independent records behind them. Vera could deny a conversation at the fence. She could not as easily deny what she chose to do in a yard full of witnesses.

The outside team had warned Elena that one dramatic recording would never carry the whole investigation. Each woman would have to decide whether to speak, and every account would be checked against ordinary records. Elena had insisted on the same point. She had watched Sofia’s complaints fail when officials called them isolated allegations; she would not let Vera’s next outburst become the only story anyone heard.

She had given the team Mina’s request for separate housing, Tess’s request for privacy, and the location of the page Holt had confiscated. She had also identified the kitchen tally and the date of the laundry corridor outage. Those details gave investigators work to do as soon as they entered. The yard would open the inquiry in public, but the women who lived here would decide how much of the truth could be proved.

The apple was from breakfast. Elena put it on Sofia’s napkin square when she reached the metal bench.

Mina sat across the yard, near Tess. Neither woman looked at her for long. Holt had returned to the wall. His face remained blank when Elena sat down.

She had expected Vera within minutes. Ten went by. Elena opened her water and left the cap beside the apple. She watched the administration window. The gray curtain was closed.

Finally Vera came out of the recreation cage with her three companions.

“You’re in my seat again,” she said.

“You had all morning to use it.”

Vera looked at the apple. “Did you bring me a present?”

“It’s for someone who needs it.”

“Everybody needs something in here.”

“Some of them need their own lunch.”

Tess stiffened across the yard. Elena had kept her name out of it, and now she kept her gaze on Vera.

“We had this conversation already,” Vera said.

“Then we can have the next one with an officer listening.”

Holt stayed on the wall. Vera noticed Elena’s glance and laughed.

“You still think somebody’s coming to save you?”

“I think people are watching.”

Vera leaned toward her. “They always watch.”

Elena stood. She was aware of Mina rising at the other end of the yard. Holt spoke into his radio, too softly for Elena to hear.

“Yesterday you had someone soak my blanket,” Elena said. “You took my food. You searched women because Sofia hid a page you wanted. Tell me which part I’m wrong about.”

The other women near the bench fell silent. Vera’s smile vanished at Sofia’s name.

“You don’t know what your sister did,” she said.

“Then tell me.”

“She wrote down things that had nothing to do with her. She put other women in trouble.”

“Who gave you her letter?”

Vera glanced at Holt. It lasted less than a second.

“She should’ve kept out of my business.”

Elena heard the admission for what it was. Vera had known about the letter while Sofia was still alive. Mina heard it too; she took a step closer.

“Your business was taking food from women who couldn’t stop you,” Elena said.

“My business is keeping this block in order.”

“By deciding who eats?”

Vera seized the apple. “By teaching you what happens when you won’t listen.”

She pressed it into the hand of her youngest companion. The woman looked down at it and then, to Vera’s evident surprise, set it back on the bench.

“I don’t want it,” she said.

Vera’s face darkened. “Move away.”

The woman did. She moved toward Mina rather than toward Vera’s other two companions.

Elena could have ended the exchange there. The refusal was visible. Vera’s words had carried. But Holt was still on the wall, and Vera had not yet given anyone a reason to intervene before he could warn her.

Elena picked up the apple. “You can choose to let her go,” she told Vera. “And you can leave Tess alone at dinner.”

Vera saw the faces turned toward them. A woman under the basketball hoop had stopped dribbling. Three more stood beside the fence. Every step back now would be witnessed.

“You’re telling me what to do?” Vera asked.

“I’m asking you to decide in front of them.”

Vera grabbed the open water from the bench. Mina started forward, but Elena met her eyes and gave a small shake of her head. Mina stopped beside Tess.

Cold water struck Elena’s scalp and ran beneath her collar. The yard burst into laughter from a few women who had learned to laugh before Vera looked at them. Then the laughter thinned. Tess had not joined in. Neither had Vera’s youngest companion.

Vera tipped the last of the water over Elena’s head and threw the empty cup onto the concrete.

Elena stayed still. The apple remained firm in her hand. Beyond Vera’s shoulder, the gray curtain moved at the administration window.

Holt lowered his radio. He looked toward the window too.

An alarm cut across the yard. It was the sharp signal for staff movement, followed by the heavy click of gates being released in sequence.

Vera turned with an irritated laugh. “What now?”

Six officers entered first. Behind them came three people in dark suits and a woman carrying a tablet. Holt moved away from the wall, but an officer reached him before he reached the gate.

Elena took one step toward Mina. Her sleeves dripped onto the concrete. Tess gripped Mina’s hand.

One of the visitors walked straight to Elena, stopping close enough that the whole yard could hear him.

“Agent Moretti,” he said, “are you injured?”