Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO KEPT QUIET
Evelyn rose so quickly that her chair scraped the floor.
“Who disconnected it?”
Daniel didn’t guess.
He asked his security staff to preserve the access logs.
I liked him for that.
Every other adult seemed to know things before anyone had told them.
A silver-haired woman appeared in the doorway.
“Evelyn.”
She wore a navy suit and carried a leather folder against her chest.
“Grace,” Evelyn said. “Have you seen Hugh?”
“He left.”
“Through which entrance?”
“I don’t know.”
I watched her hands.
Her thumb kept rubbing one corner of the folder.
My mother did that with overdue bills.
Officer Bennett asked her full name.
“Grace Vale. I’m Mrs. Whitmore’s executive assistant.”
“How long have you worked for her?”
“Twenty-three years.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Then you remember my daughter.”
Grace’s thumb stopped moving.
“Yes.”
“My daughter is alive.”
Grace shut her eyes.
It lasted only a second.
But I saw it.
“You knew,” I said.
“Nora,” Evelyn whispered.
“She knew.”
Grace opened her eyes and looked at me.
There was something terrible in her face.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Officer Bennett stood.
“Ms. Vale, what can you tell us?”
Grace glanced toward the hall.
Then she stepped inside and shut the door.
“Hugh asked me to arrange a car this evening.”
“What car?”
“A foundation vehicle.”
“Where was it going?”
“He said a staff member was ill.”
Evelyn’s voice sharpened.
“Where, Grace?”
“The old guesthouse on East Sixty-First.”
Officer Bennett spoke into her radio.
The other officer left the room.
“Is that where my mom is?” I asked.
“We’re checking,” Bennett said.
Evelyn moved toward Grace.
“How long have you known Sarah was alive?”
Grace’s eyes filled.
“I didn’t know for certain until tonight.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
A knock interrupted them.
Daniel came back with a clear plastic sleeve.
Inside was a small receipt.
“It was caught beneath the strap of Ms. Whitmore’s bag.”
He held it where I could see.
I recognized my mother’s handwriting on the back.
Three words.
IF I DISAPPEAR.
Underneath was a name and a phone number.
May you like
The name wasn’t Evelyn’s.
It was Hugh Whitmore’s.
