Chapter 13 - THE WINDOW IN THE BACK ROOM
A glass had fallen from the kitchen counter. Beatrice stood beside it, holding Lily’s hand.
“Someone was at the back window,” she said.
Rafael checked outside while Leo took Lily into the living room. A fresh footprint marked the wet ground beneath the window. Whoever made it had already gone.
Lily pressed against Leo. “Is it the man from the shed?”
“I don’t know,” he told her. “You’re with me.”
Rafael found tire tracks by the tree line. The guesthouse had been kept quiet, but too many people knew where it was now. Leo arranged to move Lily and Beatrice to Dana’s family home while police checked the grounds.
On the drive, Lily asked if Victoria was coming too.
“No,” Leo said.
“Was she mad because I found Mommy’s secret?”
“She made choices that hurt you. You didn’t cause them.”
Lily thought about that for a long moment. “Bee said that.”
“Bee was right.”
At Dana’s house, Beatrice helped Lily settle into a bedroom with flowered curtains. Then she went downstairs, where Leo was staring at his phone.
The detective had called. A traffic camera had caught Graham’s driver near the guesthouse. Graham had already left Chicago on a private plane. Authorities were tracing his destination and working with agencies outside the state.
“The case may take time,” Dana said. “His records are spread across several companies.”
Leo looked toward the stairs. “Lily deserves an answer.”
“She does,” Beatrice said. “She also needs breakfast tomorrow and someone to read the same rabbit book four times.”
Leo gave a tired smile. “Only four?”
“On a good day.”
May you like
His phone lit up with a message from an unknown number. It contained one sentence:
“Ask Harriet what happened to Elena’s second letter.”
