Chapter 8 - THE CLERK THEY TRIED TO BUY
Ava received an offer from Mercer & Reed.
Three hundred thousand dollars.
A senior position.
A confidentiality agreement.
She brought the document to Rebecca.
“They called it a settlement for wrongful termination.”
Rebecca read the final page.
“It also prevents you from discussing the gown, the archive, or Eleanor.”
Ava laughed.
“They think I found the label because I wanted money.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
She looked toward Mom.
“I want the museum record corrected.”
“Why?”
Ava hesitated.
Then she told us about her grandmother.
Ruth Bennett had been a junior seamstress in the tailoring department.
She worked beside Mom during the Midnight Collection.
After the fire, Ruth gave police a statement supporting Mercer & Reed.
She claimed Mom had threatened the store.
Ruth regretted it for the rest of her life.
Before dying, she told Ava:
If you ever see pale blue thread, look underneath it.
Ruth knew Mom hid labels inside the gowns.
She believed one might survive.
Ava had not opened the lining by accident.
She had spent two years working toward the historical salon.
She hoped to find proof.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked.
“Because I didn’t know whether my grandmother helped destroy Eleanor.”
Mom looked at Ava.
“She was twenty-one.”
“She had a baby.”
“Henry threatened to fire her husband too.”
“She made a choice.”
“That choice hurt me.”
“It also haunted her.”
Ava began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Mom held out her hand.
Ava took it.
“I don’t need you to apologize for your grandmother,” Mom said.
“I need you to decide what you do with what she left you.”
Ava rejected the settlement.
Mercer & Reed increased the offer to half a million dollars.
She rejected that too.
Then the company released a statement accusing her of damaging the gown.
Social media filled with claims that Ava had planted the label.
A grainy video appeared showing her entering the archive hallway weeks before the discovery.
The clip made her look suspicious.
The full recording showed her carrying garment racks during inventory.
Mercer & Reed had edited it.
Rebecca filed a motion for evidence manipulation.
The judge ordered the store to preserve every security recording.
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The company’s strategy was becoming familiar.
When a woman found proof, they changed the story about the woman.
