Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN OLIVIA TRUSTED
“MY WIFE WROTE THAT I WASN'T TO BE TRUSTED?”
Adrian read the message again.
He recognized Olivia's handwriting.
The way she crossed her T.
The sharp curve of the final D.
It was hers.
Emily looked away.
Nicholas said nothing.
For a moment, Adrian heard Olivia's voice from their last argument.
You don't understand who you're protecting.
He had answered that she was making accusations without evidence.
Now he wondered whether his wife had been asking for help while he was defending the people frightening her.
“Who is the woman in blue?” Adrian asked.
Nicholas shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Vanessa gave him a sharp look.
“You do.”
Adrian turned toward her.
“Then tell me.”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Olivia met a woman from the Harbor Point compliance department. She always wore a blue coat.”
“Name?”
“Margaret Vale.”
Emily looked up.
“My father knew her.”
Adrian studied her.
“How?”
“She used to visit him at the rehabilitation center.”
“Recently?”
“Before his stroke. Afterward, she stopped coming.”
Nicholas looked visibly disturbed.
“That isn't possible.”
Vanessa frowned.
“Why?”
“Margaret Vale was reported dead two years ago.”
The words hung between them.
Adrian shook his head.
“No more stories without proof.”
He folded Olivia's note and put it inside his jacket.
“Everyone stays in the house until the police have what we've collected.”
Nicholas stared.
“You're calling the police?”
“Yes.”
“You know what an investigation could do to Moretti Maritime.”
Adrian's voice hardened.
“I know what keeping quiet did to Olivia.”
He turned toward Emily.
“Get your coat.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Adrian, you can't leave me here like this.”
He stopped.
“You invited sixty people into my home to celebrate a marriage built on a lie. You humiliated my daughter, threatened Emily's father, and tried to steal the last thing Olivia left Grace.”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“I never wanted to hurt Grace.”
“You did.”
She looked down.
Adrian removed his engagement ring from his finger and placed it on the dresser.
“There will be no wedding.”
Vanessa's face crumpled.
Nicholas looked away.
Adrian didn't wait for either of them to respond.
Downstairs, Grace sat on the library sofa with the music box in her lap.
A soft melody played as she turned the winding key.
She looked up when Adrian entered.
“Daddy, did you find Mommy's letter?”
“Part of it.”
“Was she mad at me?”
Adrian knelt.
“No, sweetheart. Never.”
Grace considered that.
“Then why didn't she come home?”
Adrian couldn't answer.
Emily sat beside them.
“Your mommy loved you very much, Grace.”
Grace looked at her.
“How do you know?”
Emily hesitated.
“Because she made sure you had something special to open on your seventh birthday.”
Grace touched the box.
“She said this song would help me remember.”
Adrian's throat tightened.
He had never understood why Olivia loved that particular melody.
It was an old lullaby, played slowly on a piano.
She used to hum it while putting Grace to sleep.
“Can I bring it?” Grace asked.
Adrian shook his head gently.
“You're staying here tonight with Aunt Rosa.”
Rosa Moretti, Adrian's widowed aunt, had helped raise Grace since Olivia's death.
She entered the library and wrapped an arm around the child.
Grace looked frightened.
“Is Vanessa coming back?”
“No,” Adrian said.
“Promise?”
He kissed her forehead.
“I promise.”
Emily went upstairs to collect her coat.
When she returned, Adrian was standing near the front door.
He handed her a folded paper.
“What is this?” she asked.
“Written confirmation that your employment is secure and your father's rehabilitation bills will continue to be paid.”
Emily stared at him.
“Mr. Moretti—”
“Adrian.”
She looked up.
“Thank you.”
He shook his head.
“I should have protected you sooner.”
They drove to Harbor Point under a cold Boston rain.
Marco followed in a second vehicle.
At the rehabilitation center, Emily led Adrian past the nurses' station toward her father's room.
Thomas Carter sat beside the window.
At sixty-one, he looked older than the photographs Adrian had seen.
His left hand rested awkwardly on a blanket.
A small television played silently in the corner.
“Dad?”
Thomas turned.
His face brightened.
“Em.”
Emily hurried to him.
“Hi, Dad.”
He hugged her with his stronger arm.
Then he noticed Adrian.
The warmth vanished.
Thomas grabbed Emily's wrist.
“No.”
“Dad, it's all right.”
He shook his head fiercely.
“No Moretti.”
Adrian stopped at the foot of the bed.
“Dr. Carter, I need to ask about Olivia.”
Thomas looked toward the door.
His breathing quickened.
Emily took his hand.
“Dad, listen to me. He found the music box.”
Thomas went completely still.
“The box?” he whispered.
Emily nodded.
“Grace opened it.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he pointed toward a small wooden drawer.
“Blue.”
Emily opened it.
Inside lay a folded blue scarf, a paperback novel, and a photograph.
The photograph showed Olivia beside an ambulance.
Exactly as Emily had described.
But Adrian noticed something else.
A woman stood behind Olivia.
Her face was partly hidden.
She wore a blue coat.
Margaret Vale.
And in her arms was a little girl's pink jacket.
Grace's jacket.
Adrian recognized it from the morning Olivia disappeared.
He remembered Olivia packing that jacket into a canvas bag.
She had said she was taking Grace to visit the aquarium.
But Grace had developed a fever.
Olivia went out alone instead.
Adrian looked at Thomas.
“Why did Margaret have my daughter's jacket?”
Thomas struggled to speak.
“She... knew.”
“Knew what?”
Thomas pressed his fingers against the photograph.
“Olivia... plan.”
Adrian moved closer.
“What plan?”
Thomas looked at Emily.
His voice broke.
“Bring... Grace.”
Emily's eyes widened.
“She planned to take Grace somewhere?”
Thomas nodded.
“Safe.”
Adrian felt physically ill.
His wife had been planning to take their daughter away from the estate.
Away from him.
Before he could ask another question, Thomas pointed toward the blue scarf.
“Inside.”
Emily unfolded it.
A small brass key fell onto the bed.
Attached was a faded paper tag.
LOCKER 214 — SOUTH STATION
Adrian picked it up.
Thomas caught his wrist.
With enormous effort, he spoke three clear words.
“Not... for... you.”
Adrian froze.
Thomas turned toward Emily.
“For... her.”
Emily looked stunned.
“Me?”
Thomas nodded.
Then he reached beneath his pillow and removed an old train ticket.
Boston to Providence.
Dated the day after Olivia's accident.
Two seats.
The passenger names were printed beneath the departure time.
OLIVIA MORETTI.
GRACE MORETTI.
Adrian stared.
The tickets had never been used.
Thomas began crying.
Emily leaned toward him.
“Dad, what happened?”
The older man struggled to breathe evenly.
He pointed to the date.
Then to Adrian.
Then he forced out one sentence.
“Olivia came back for Grace.”
Adrian's eyes burned.
Thomas shook his head.
“But somebody got there first.”
Emily whispered, “Who?”
Thomas looked directly at her.
Then, with visible effort, he said:
“The woman in blue wasn't protecting Olivia.”
May you like
He swallowed.
“She was protecting the person Olivia was trying to expose.”
