Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO TAUGHT SAMUEL TO SPEAK
“Sofia is dead.”
Samuel signed the words so sharply that Tessa nearly missed them.
Victor smiled through the video.
“Another family story you believed.”
Margaret continued signing behind him.
SOFIA KNOWS THE VOICE.
Tessa looked at Samuel.
“Who is she?”
His hands did not move.
Victor answered instead.
“Sofia Bell.”
Samuel’s face tightened.
“She was his speech therapist.”
Tessa frowned.
Samuel had been Deaf since childhood.
But Deaf did not necessarily mean incapable of speech.
“You can speak?”
His eyes met hers.
Pain.
Embarrassment.
Fear.
Victor laughed.
“Oh, he can speak.”
Samuel looked away.
For fifteen years, speaking had been dangerous because Salvatore’s voice and Samuel’s voice were different.
So he stopped.
Not because he couldn’t.
Because his identity depended on silence.
Victor continued.
“Sofia helped him develop spoken language when he was young.”
Samuel signed:
“She died in a car accident.”
Victor smiled.
“No.”
Another fake death.
Another ghost.
Tessa was beginning to understand how the Marquetti family survived.
They buried truths before people.
“Where is she?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Find her before I do.”
The call ended.
Margaret’s warning stayed on the screen.
Don’t trust Sofia.
Samuel immediately pulled an old address.
Sofia Bell.
Former audiologist and speech-language pathologist.
Last known residence in Milwaukee.
No current license.
No death record.
Luke began searching.
Tessa sat beside Samuel.
“You never told me you could speak.”
He looked at her.
Then signed:
“No one knows.”
“Margaret?”
“Yes.”
“Victor?”
“Yes.”
“Sofia?”
“Yes.”
“Anyone else?”
He hesitated.
“My brother.”
The real Salvatore.
Tessa nodded slowly.
“Do you want to speak?”
His hands stopped.
That was not the question he expected.
Not “Can you?”
Not “Why don’t you?”
Do you want to?
Finally, he signed:
“Not yet.”
“Okay.”
Something softened in him.
Then Luke returned.
“We found Sofia.”
“Where?”
“Chicago.”
Samuel frowned.
“Where?”
Luke hesitated.
“South Side Community Center.”
Tessa stopped breathing.
The place where she learned ASL.
Every Wednesday.
“She teaches there?”
Luke nodded.
Tessa thought of the instructors.
Volunteers.
Older women who helped beginners.
Then she remembered.
Ms. Bell.
Silver hair.
Warm smile.
Always correcting Tessa’s handshape.
Always asking about Dany.
Her full name was Sofia Bell.
Tessa stood.
“She knows me.”
Samuel’s eyes sharpened.
“What?”
“She’s been teaching me ASL for eight months.”
Silence.
Then Tessa remembered the first night.
Ms. Bell had seen her surname on the registration sheet.
Whitlock.
Her expression had changed.
Just for a second.
Tessa hadn’t understood why.
May you like
Now she did.
Sofia Bell had known exactly who Tessa was from the beginning.
