Chapter 6 - Vanessa Had Been Investigating GraceVanessa denied the call for twelve seconds.
Then Richard played it again.
She stopped.
“Fine.”
Grace stared.
“Fine?”
Vanessa’s eyes snapped toward her.
“I made the call.”
“Why?”
“Because I found something.”
“What?”
Vanessa looked at Richard instead.
“Her application.”
Grace frowned.
“My application?”
“Your mother’s name.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“So you searched her personnel records.”
“I review everyone who works here.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I review people who behave suspiciously.”
Grace laughed.
“What did I do?”
Vanessa looked at her.
“You wore that necklace.”
Grace stared.
“You recognized it?”
“Not at first.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Richard did.”
He frowned.
“I never said anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Vanessa’s voice sharpened.
“The first time you saw her, you stared like you’d seen a ghost.”
Richard looked toward Eleanor’s portrait.
“Because she resembled someone.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“So you assumed I wanted her?”
Vanessa’s expression hardened.
“You noticed her.”
Richard laughed once.
Disbelief.
“Vanessa.”
“Men always have reasons.”
Grace felt almost sorry for her.
Almost.
Then she remembered the clippers.
“What happened after you saw my mother’s name?”
Vanessa’s mouth tightened.
“I searched.”
“Where?”
“Online.”
Eleanor Miller produced thousands of results.
Grace knew that.
Vanessa continued.
“Then I added Caldwell.”
“What did you find?”
“An archived newspaper clipping.”
Bennett stepped closer.
“What clipping?”
Vanessa looked irritated.
“A society page from 1997. Eleanor Caldwell at a foundation gala.”
Grace’s stomach twisted.
“Photo?”
“Yes.”
“And she looked like me.”
Vanessa didn’t answer.
Grace knew.
Richard asked:
“Then why call Bennett?”
“Because I wanted to know whether it mattered.”
“And when he wouldn’t tell you?”
“I hired someone.”
Grace stopped.
“A private investigator?”
Vanessa nodded.
“What did they find?”
“Eleanor Miller lived in Dayton, Ohio. One daughter. Grace.”
Richard stared at his wife.
“You knew all of this.”
“I knew a woman with the right name existed.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“I wanted confirmation.”
“You had three weeks.”
“I was protecting you.”
Grace almost laughed.
That phrase.
Protecting.
Usually spoken right before someone explained why they lied.
Richard stepped closer.
“Did you know Grace worked here before you investigated?”
“Obviously.”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“Did you know who she was when she was hired?”
Vanessa looked away.
Grace felt something drop inside her.
“What?”
Mrs. Harris whispered:
“Richard.”
He understood too.
Vanessa had perhaps not discovered Grace accidentally.
Richard asked:
“Did you hire her?”
Vanessa laughed.
“Mrs. Harris hires staff.”
Everyone looked at Mrs. Harris.
She looked uncomfortable.
Grace stared.
“Did you know?”
Mrs. Harris swallowed.
“I knew your last name.”
“Before hiring me?”
“Yes.”
Grace stepped back.
“Everyone keeps deciding things about my life without telling me.”
Mrs. Harris looked devastated.
“I’m sorry.”
“You hired me because of my mother?”
“Partly.”
“Why?”
“Six months ago, I received a letter.”
Grace frowned.
“From who?”
Mrs. Harris looked toward Eleanor’s portrait.
“Your mother.”
Grace froze.
“My mother has been dead six years.”
“The letter was written before she died.”
Grace couldn’t speak.
Mrs. Harris continued.
“It was sent through an attorney with instructions that it be delivered only after Charles died.”
Richard stared.
“Why after Dad?”
“Because Eleanor was afraid of him until the end.”
Grace’s eyes burned.
“What did the letter say?”
Mrs. Harris took a small key from her uniform pocket.
“I kept it locked in my room.”
Vanessa snapped:
“You brought this girl into my house knowing she might challenge Richard’s inheritance?”
Mrs. Harris turned on her.
“I brought Grace here because her mother asked me to.”
Grace’s throat tightened.
“What exactly did she ask?”
Mrs. Harris’s voice softened.
“She wrote, ‘If my daughter ever needs work, and Charles is gone, give her a place in the house long enough to see it.’”
Grace frowned.
“See what?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because the letter specifically said not to.”
Grace closed her eyes.
Even Eleanor had controlled information from the grave.
She hated that.
And understood it.
Mrs. Harris continued.
“I found your application through the staffing agency by chance.”
Grace laughed bitterly.
“Chance.”
“Yes.”
“You recognized Miller?”
“Your emergency contact listed your aunt June. I knew Eleanor had a friend named June.”
Grace stared.
Aunt June wasn’t actually her aunt.
Just her mother’s closest friend.
“Did June know?”
Mrs. Harris shook her head.
“I called her. Asked nothing directly. She confirmed Eleanor had a daughter looking for stable work.”
Grace rubbed her face.
“So you hired me.”
“Yes.”
“And Vanessa figured it out.”
“Eventually.”
Grace turned toward Vanessa.
“When you hired the investigator, what else did they find?”
Vanessa went quiet.
Richard said:
“Tell her.”
“Nothing relevant.”
Grace stepped closer.
“What?”
Vanessa looked at her.
“Your mother’s death certificate.”
Grace stiffened.
“So?”
“And probate records.”
“What about them?”
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed.
“Eleanor left you something besides that necklace.”
Grace frowned.
“No. She didn’t.”
“Yes.”
“My mother had four hundred dollars in her bank account when she died.”
“Not money.”
“What?”
Vanessa smiled faintly.
“A storage unit.”
Grace stared.
“I’ve never had a storage unit.”
“Your mother did.”
“Where?”
“Pennsylvania.”
Grace stopped breathing.
She and Eleanor had never lived in Pennsylvania.
Vanessa continued.
“Paid twenty years in advance.”
Richard looked toward Bennett.
“Could that be connected to Arthur’s records?”
“Possibly.”
Grace turned back.
“You knew about this and said nothing.”
Vanessa shrugged.
“It wasn’t my problem.”
“Then why did your investigator visit it?”
Grace saw the answer in Vanessa’s face.
Richard did too.
“You opened it.”
Vanessa’s voice sharpened.
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“It requires two keys.”
Grace touched her pendant.
Vanessa looked at it.
There.
Grace understood.
“One key is in the necklace.”
Vanessa didn’t answer.
Bennett whispered:
“That may be why Eleanor kept it.”
Grace’s heart pounded.
“And the second?”
Vanessa looked toward the old portrait.
“I don’t know.”
Mrs. Harris suddenly went still.
Grace noticed.
“What?”
Mrs. Harris stared at the three stars engraved above the rose on the pendant.
“Arthur had three family pendants made.”
Richard frowned.
“Three?”
“One for Eleanor.”
“One for Charles.”
“And the third?”
Mrs. Harris looked at Richard.
“For the child Arthur expected Eleanor to have.”
Grace felt cold.
“But I wasn’t born yet.”
“No.”
“Then where is it?”
Mrs. Harris looked toward the ceiling.
“Charles kept it.”
Richard stared.
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
Richard’s expression changed.
He knew something.
Grace saw it.
“Where?”
May you like
Richard whispered:
“I buried him wearing it.”
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