Chapter 7 - Jenna Comes Back
The cuff link looked perfect.
Too perfect.
Gavin Ross wore silver GR cuff links at formal events. Daniel had given him the set for his fortieth birthday.
Mara stared at the photograph. “Either your friend is reckless enough to drop personalized jewelry at a break-in, or somebody wants us to think he is.”
Daniel hated that she was right.
Lily, meanwhile, had hidden in the hotel bathroom after the attempted entry. Daniel found her sitting inside the empty tub with her rabbit held against her chest.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“For what?”
“For telling.”
Daniel knelt beside the tub. “You never apologize for telling me when you’re scared. Ever again.”
“Nora said people get hurt when I tell.”
“Nora was wrong.”
Lily looked at him with exhausted seriousness. “Grandma told me grown-ups can be wrong and still sound sure.”
Daniel laughed once, painfully. “That sounds like Grandma.”
At noon, Mara received a message from an unknown number.
I AM JENNA COLE. ASK DANIEL WHAT CLAIRE CALLED LILY BEFORE SHE WAS BORN.
Only a handful of people knew the answer.
Peanut.
Mara replied through a secure line. Two hours later, Jenna appeared at a suburban medical clinic thirty miles away. Her red hair was shorter. She had lost weight. She looked like someone who had spent months checking mirrors.
When she saw Daniel, she cried.
“I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Just tell me the truth.”
Jenna did.
After Evelyn began asking questions about company invoices, Nora became frantic. Jenna once caught Nora and Gavin searching Evelyn’s bedroom. Another time, she saw Nora crush something over the sink after carrying Evelyn her nightly tea.
“I didn’t know what it was,” Jenna said. “Not then.”
“Why the locker?”
“Your mother asked me to make copies. She said Daniel trusts Gavin more than he trusts paperwork.”
Daniel winced.
Jenna continued. “The week Evelyn died, Nora started giving Lily a ‘vitamin drink’ at night. Lily slept so deeply I couldn’t wake her.”
Daniel’s hands tightened.
“She drugged my daughter?”
“I think she wanted Lily asleep while they moved around the house.”
Jenna reached into her bag and pulled out a folded photograph.
“I took this at the lake house. I never knew if it mattered.”
Daniel opened it.
The image showed Nora on the back terrace at night.
Gavin had one hand around her waist.
May you like
They were kissing.
The date printed in the corner was three months before Daniel had ever met Nora.
