Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO KNEW LILY’S NAME
Gabriel reached the hallway before anyone else.
“Martin!”
No answer.
Anna followed him.
The mansion suddenly felt enormous.
Too many corridors.
Too many rooms.
Too many people who knew how to disappear inside them.
Gabriel stopped a security guard.
“Where is Hale?”
“Sir?”
“Martin. Where is he?”
“He took the sedan around back ten minutes ago.”
Eleanor frowned.
“He drove me here.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You came with Martin?”
“He collected me from the hotel.”
Lauren went pale.
“I arranged a car service.”
Eleanor stared at her.
“He said you sent him.”
Gabriel pulled out his phone.
Anna grabbed his arm.
“Lily.”
He looked at her.
“If Martin knows where my sister lives—”
Gabriel immediately called security.
“Two men to Anna’s sister’s house. Quietly. Nobody approaches unless Anna approves.”
Anna’s heart hammered.
“I’m going.”
“So am I.”
“No.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Anna didn’t back down.
“If Lily sees a convoy of strangers and you walking toward the house, she’ll be terrified.”
Gabriel considered that.
Then nodded.
“You lead.”
Twenty-five minutes later, Anna hurried up the narrow steps of her sister Rachel’s rowhouse.
Rachel opened the door before she knocked.
“What happened?”
“Where’s Lily?”
“Asleep.”
“Did anyone come by?”
“No.”
Anna pushed inside.
Lily’s backpack sat beside the couch.
Her pink sneakers were beneath it.
Normal things.
Beautiful things.
Anna finally breathed.
Then Lily appeared at the top of the stairs wearing pajamas covered in tiny moons.
“Mom?”
Anna’s chest tightened.
“Hey, baby.”
“Why are you here?”
“I wanted to see you.”
Lily frowned.
“You’re still wearing your work clothes.”
Nine years old.
Too observant.
Anna went upstairs and hugged her.
Lily looked over her shoulder.
Gabriel stood near the doorway downstairs, keeping his distance.
“Is that your boss?”
“Yes.”
“The scary one?”
Rachel coughed to hide a laugh.
Gabriel actually looked offended.
Anna whispered, “Who told you he was scary?”
“Aunt Rachel.”
“Traitor,” Rachel muttered.
Lily looked at Gabriel again.
“He doesn’t look scary.”
Gabriel said, “Thank you.”
“He looks tired.”
Anna almost smiled.
“So do you.”
Lily leaned against her.
Then she remembered something.
“A man brought my bag.”
Anna froze.
“What man?”
“The gray-haired one.”
Rachel turned.
“What?”
Lily pointed toward the kitchen.
“He came before dinner.”
Rachel’s face drained.
“I thought you sent him.”
Anna’s voice shook.
“What did he bring?”
“My purple inhaler bag.”
Lily smiled faintly.
“I forgot it at your work.”
Gabriel moved closer.
“Did he say his name?”
Lily thought.
“Mr. Marty.”
Anna closed her eyes.
Martin.
“What else did he say?”
“He asked if I liked horses.”
Rachel stared at Anna.
“Why?”
Lily shrugged.
“He said my mommy might take me somewhere with horses.”
Anna crouched.
“Did he give you anything else?”
Lily nodded.
“A picture.”
“Where is it?”
“In my backpack.”
Anna opened the front pocket.
Inside was an old photograph.
A young Catherine DeLuca stood beside a chestnut horse.
Next to her was a dark-haired man in jeans and a work shirt.
Michael Bennett.
Gabriel took the photograph carefully.
On the back:
Cedar Hollow Farm, 1998.
Eleanor sat down.
“That’s Michael.”
Gabriel stared at his biological father’s face for the first time.
He had Gabriel’s eyes.
Anna saw him realize it.
His thumb moved across the edge of the photograph.
“Why would Martin give this to Lily?”
“Maybe he wanted us to find it,” Lauren said.
Everyone turned.
She had followed with Evelyn and Anthony’s nurse.
Anna’s temper flared.
“You’re defending the man who came near my daughter?”
“No.”
Lauren looked at Lily, then deliberately lowered her voice.
“I’m saying if Martin wanted to hurt her, why leave a clue?”
Anna hated that the question made sense.
Gabriel examined the photo.
“Cedar Hollow.”
Eleanor stood.
“I know that name.”
“Where?”
“Samuel Bennett mentioned it years ago. His mother’s family had a farm.”
Gabriel looked at Lily.
“We’re not discussing this here.”
Anna nodded.
Rachel took Lily upstairs.
Before going, Lily looked at Anna.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Are we in trouble?”
Anna wanted to say no.
Instead she walked over and held her daughter’s face.
“Some grown-ups made a mess a long time ago. We’re figuring it out.”
“Are you staying?”
“Yes.”
That was the only promise Anna could safely make.
After Lily disappeared upstairs, Gabriel turned to Lauren.
“You’re going back to the estate.”
“So are you.”
“No.”
Her face hardened.
“You don’t trust me.”
“Should I?”
Lauren absorbed that.
“No.”
The answer surprised him again.
She removed her engagement ring.
Anna expected her to throw it.
Instead Lauren placed it carefully on the kitchen table.
“I became cruel because I thought control would keep me from becoming disposable.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Lauren looked toward the stairs.
“My mother cleaned hotel rooms. Wealthy guests treated her like furniture. I spent my entire life promising nobody would ever look down on me that way.”
Her eyes shifted to Anna.
“And somewhere along the way, I became the person I hated.”
Anna said nothing.
Lauren continued.
“I didn’t send those threats.”
“How can I believe you?”
“You shouldn’t. Not yet.”
She looked at Gabriel.
“But I can prove one thing. Martin asked me about Anna’s daughter three days ago.”
Anna’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
“He said he needed to update emergency contact files.”
Gabriel’s face darkened.
“You didn’t question it?”
“He manages the estate.”
Lauren looked ashamed.
“I gave him Rachel’s address.”
Anna stared at her.
Lauren met her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
The apology didn’t repair anything.
But it sounded real.
Gabriel picked up Lauren’s engagement ring and handed it back.
“This doesn’t go on again until I know who you are.”
Lauren closed her fingers around it.
“I understand.”
Evelyn suddenly turned the photograph toward the light.
“There.”
A small silver necklace hung around Catherine’s throat.
St. Christopher.
Gabriel frowned.
“But Isabel wore it in the drawing five years later.”
“So Catherine gave it to her,” Anna said.
Eleanor nodded.
“Which means if we find the necklace—”
“We find Isabel,” Gabriel finished.
Anthony’s nurse entered from the hallway.
“Mr. DeLuca?”
Gabriel turned.
“Your father wants to speak with you.”
“He can wait.”
“He says he knows Cedar Hollow.”
Everyone looked at Anthony, seated in Rachel’s living room where the nurse had settled him.
His face looked gray.
Gabriel approached.
“You knew the farm?”
Anthony nodded.
“I went there once.”
“When?”
“2004.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
The same year Isabel had drawn the picture.
“You saw my sister.”
“No.”
“Then what did you see?”
Anthony looked toward the staircase, making sure Lily was gone.
“A grave.”
Gabriel stared.
“Whose?”
Anthony’s voice cracked.
“Michael Bennett’s.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Gabriel stood perfectly still.
“How did he die?”
Anthony looked at the photograph in Gabriel’s hand.
“His headstone said 2001.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel leaned closer.
“Why did you go to the farm?”
Anthony’s eyes filled with something Anna had not seen before.
Fear.
“Because Catherine sent me a letter.”
“What did it say?”
Anthony swallowed.
“Three words.”
Gabriel waited.
May you like
Anthony looked directly at him.
“Michael was murdered.”
