Chapter 1 - The Woman Who Didn't Need to See
“Remove it,” Luca said.
Michael set the velvet box on the table and slid a thin letter opener beneath its base. I watched his hands, certain that whatever he found would determine whether I left the Moretti mansion with my job, my freedom, or neither.
The bottom lifted with a soft crack.
Inside lay a tiny silver key, a microSD card, and a photograph of a woman I recognized immediately.
My mother.
For a moment the chandeliers seemed to dim. I gripped the service cart to keep my knees from folding.
“Claire?” Luca asked.
I couldn't answer. The photograph showed my mother outside Mercy Hospital, standing beside a black sedan. Someone had drawn a red circle around her face.
Vanessa lunged for the box. Michael intercepted her before she touched it.
“That isn't mine,” she said.
“Then why did you hide it?” Luca asked.
“I didn't.”
Aunt Evelyn turned her face toward me. “Claire, honey. Tell us what frightened you.”
“That's my mother.”
Luca looked from me to the photograph. His expression sharpened, but his voice stayed level. “Everyone sits down. Nobody touches the evidence.”
Vanessa's eyes darted to the closed doors. For the first time I understood that the missing necklace had never been the point. I had been selected as a convenient criminal, and my family had been selected for something worse.
Then Luca's phone rang.
May you like
He answered without taking his eyes off Vanessa. A man's voice spilled through the speaker: “The woman at Mercy has disappeared.”
I dropped the silver dessert spoon. Its clatter sounded like a gunshot.
