Chapter 2 - The Name on the Envelope

Daniel turned slowly toward Vanessa. “What did you just say?”

She blinked, realizing her mistake. “I said this isn't the place to discuss old family business.”

“Then why did you bring it up?” Eleanor asked.

Vanessa reached for Daniel's arm. He moved away. That tiny motion traveled through the room like a crack in glass. Phones began to rise. Somewhere, a wedding coordinator whispered for the band to play louder.

I wanted to disappear. For four years I'd worked double shifts, answered phones at night, and paid my younger brother's community-college bills. None of those hard days had prepared me to stand in front of two hundred strangers while rich people argued over the one object I never took off.

“Please,” I told Daniel. “If you know something about my mother, tell me privately.”

He nodded, but Vanessa stepped between us. “She isn't going anywhere near the family rooms. Security!”

Eleanor took my hand. Her fingers were warm and surprisingly strong. “She comes with me.”

The security supervisor, Marcus Bell, appeared at the doorway. He looked at my soaked uniform, then at Vanessa, and hesitated. I'd known Marcus for two years. He'd brought soup when my brother had the flu. Now he was being ordered to escort me out as though I were dangerous.

“Marcus,” I said, “the cameras over the champagne station were on, right?”

He held my gaze. “They should have been.”

“Check them before anyone erases anything,” Eleanor said.

Vanessa's smile disappeared. “That's an outrageous accusation.”

I didn't care. A tiny piece of folded paper had fallen from Daniel's wallet with the brass fragment. He snatched it up, but not before I saw my mother's name, handwritten in blue ink: MARA PARKER.

“Why does your father have anything to do with her?” I asked.

Daniel looked toward the tall doors at the back of the hall. “Because she worked for him. And because I was told she died before she could testify.”

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My breath stopped. My mother hadn't died before any testimony. She'd died on the morning she was supposed to go to court.

Then Marcus's radio crackled. “Supervisor, you need to see the service corridor. Somebody broke into the security room. The wedding footage is gone.”