Chapter 8 - WHY LILA HAD TO POLISH THEM
The shoe polishing had a practical purpose.
The worst parts of abuse often grow around something ordinary.
Museum photography required the pieces to be cleaned and conservation-reviewed.
A professional conservator had been scheduled for the trust pieces.
Camilla canceled her.
Why?
“Too expensive and unnecessary for basic surface cleaning.”
The conservator charged $185 an hour.
Camilla spent more than that on lunch.
Money was not the reason.
The conservator would have checked the accession numbers.
EHV labels.
Trust records.
Ownership.
Camilla did not want another professional standing in the dressing room before the photography session.
So she used her own wardrobe assistants for her personal shoes.
Then Lila.
Why a four-year-old?
At first, symbolism.
Camilla told one assistant:
“It will be sweet if Eleanor’s daughter helps prepare her mother’s collection.”
That sentence could almost sound loving.
Then the assistant objected to using polish on one vintage pair.
Camilla became irritated.
Afterward she made Lila continue alone on ordinary modern pairs.
The work stopped being preparation.
It became hierarchy.
Lila resisted.
Camilla heard Eleanor.
The woman she had never met but could not stop competing with.
A dead wife cannot be defeated.
May you like
So Camilla moved downward.
The daughter.
