Chapter 6 - A Debt No One Mentioned

Nora stared at Adrian. "My dad saved your life?"

"Apparently." He looked as stunned as she felt. "I remember heat. A man yelling for me to keep my eyes shut. Nothing after that."

"You never told me you were at Ashcroft as a child."

"I was staying with my aunt. She worked for Eleanor. I didn't know the fire was connected to your family until now."

Nora wanted to believe him. She also remembered every time he had said, Trust me, while holding back another piece of the truth.

"What else aren't you telling me?"

Adrian leaned against the table. "I approached you because I found your name in a private ledger. I stayed because you deserved an answer."

"Those are two different reasons."

"I know."

Lena interrupted before the silence turned ugly. "The envelope Celeste delivered matters. We need to know who gave it to her."

Nora studied the dark-coated figure, the slant of his shoulders, the ring on his left hand. A square black stone glinted when he turned.

"Grant Whitmore wears a ring like that," she said.

"Grant married Celeste six years after the fire," Lena answered. "He was already a junior attorney for the estate."

Adrian pulled up Grant's public biography. Young, polished, smiling beside a much older Eleanor Ashcroft. In another photograph, Grant shook hands with Daniel Vale at a community fundraiser.

"My father knew him," Nora said.

Her phone rang. The caller ID showed a number disconnected years ago: HOME — MOM.

Nora's stomach clenched. Adrian reached for the phone, but she answered first.

A woman's voice, faint beneath static, said, "Nora, your mother left a second copy. Celeste never knew about it."

"Who is this?"

"Go to the chapel beneath the garden. Look behind the angel with the broken hand."

"Wait. How do you know my mother?"

The caller inhaled sharply. A muffled male voice ordered her to hang up.

"Don't trust the man standing beside you," she whispered.

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The line went dead.

Nora looked at Adrian. He was watching her with concern, but concern could hide almost anything.