Chapter 1 - The Slap by the Pool
The slap cracked across the pool deck so sharply that even the music stopped.
Elena Ruiz staggered sideways, water pouring from her black housekeeping uniform. One hand was still wrapped around the handlebar of a little red tricycle she had just dragged out of the deep end.
Claire Mercer stood over her in a white linen dress, breathing hard.
"What is wrong with you?" Claire snapped. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"
Elena touched her burning cheek. "Mrs. Mercer, Lucy was screaming. She said there was something important on the bike."
"It's a toy."
"I know, but—"
Claire slapped her again.
This time Elena caught herself against a lounge chair.
Around the backyard, thirty guests stared into their glasses. The Mercers' Sunday charity brunch had gone silent in less than five seconds.
Four-year-old Lucy Mercer stood barefoot beside the pool, clutching a pink towel to her chest. Her lower lip trembled.
"Mommy, stop."
Claire turned. "Go inside."
"But Daddy said—"
"Inside, Lucy. Now."
Elena looked down at the tricycle. One wheel spun slowly. Water dripped from the tassels. She had not jumped into the pool because a child wanted a toy. Lucy had run to her in panic and whispered, "Grandma's thing is inside it. Mommy put the bike in the water."
That was the part Elena had not said out loud.
A black SUV rolled through the side gate.
Claire's expression changed.
Nathan Mercer stepped out before the driver could open his door. He had returned two hours early from an investor meeting in Boston. His jacket was over one arm, his phone in the other, and the moment he saw Elena soaked to the skin and Lucy crying, he stopped cold.
"What happened?"
Nobody answered.
Nathan crossed the deck. "Claire?"
"Your housekeeper caused a scene," Claire said quickly. "She jumped in the pool in the middle of my event."
Elena stared at her.
"Why?" Nathan asked.
Claire pointed at the tricycle. "For that ridiculous thing."
Lucy stepped forward.
"Daddy."
Nathan crouched. "Hey, peanut. What's wrong?"
Lucy pointed at the right handlebar.
"Mommy's shiny ring got stuck."
Claire went perfectly still.
Nathan looked at his wife's left hand.
Her wedding finger was bare.
Then Elena noticed something glittering beneath the wet rubber grip of the tricycle.
Nathan pulled it free.
It was Claire's six-carat diamond wedding ring.
And wrapped around it was a tiny black waterproof capsule marked with two faded silver initials.
E.M.
Nathan stared at those letters.
His mother's initials.
May you like
His mother had been dead for eight months.
Claire whispered, "Don't open that."
