Chương 10
“You hid a safe-deposit key in a church memorial?”
“Behind my mother’s.”
Julian almost smiled.
“That is either very smart or completely insane.”
“I’ve been wondering which.”
“Who else knows?”
“No one.”
“Your sister?”
“No.”
“Amara?”
“She knows there’s a blue box.”
Julian’s eyes sharpened.
“What blue box?”
Grace froze.
He watched comprehension cross her face.
“The picture.”
“What picture?”
“The one Amara mentioned at dinner.”
Grace looked toward the stairs.
“I kept Claire’s photo and a few things she gave me in a blue metal box.”
Julian’s voice lowered.
“Where is it?”
“My apartment.”
He stared at her.
Grace flinched.
“You said they searched everything.”
“They didn’t find it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it wasn’t there.”
Julian waited.
Grace looked almost guilty now.
“My sister has it.”
Julian’s patience snapped.
“You just told me nobody else knows.”
“She doesn’t know what’s inside.”
“That still counts.”
“She thinks it’s paperwork.”
“Where is your sister?”
“At home.”
“With?”
Grace’s face changed.
“No one.”
Julian pulled out his phone.
“Address.”
Grace did not answer immediately.
“Grace.”
She gave it.
Julian called Marcus.
“Send two people to Grace’s sister’s apartment.”
Marcus’s voice came through, irritated and distant.
“I’m with Tomas.”
“Send Flores and Kent.”
“What are they retrieving?”
“A blue metal box.”
Grace grabbed Julian’s wrist.
“No.”
He looked down at her hand.
She let go immediately.
“My sister cannot know who you are.”
Julian stared at her.
“You work in my house.”
“She thinks you own hotels.”
“That is true.”
“You know what I mean.”
Julian did.
“Tell Flores they’re building-security consultants.”
Grace narrowed her eyes.
“That sounds fake.”
“It is fake.”
“That will definitely reassure her.”
Julian looked at the phone.
“Tell them they’re from my household office.”
Grace considered.
“Better.”
Marcus said, “I heard all of that.”
“Good.”
“Anything else?”
“Tell them not to force entry.”
Marcus paused.
“You really are changing.”
Julian ended the call.
Grace looked at him.
“He talks to you like that?”
“Only because he has survived doing it.”
“That sounds healthy.”
Julian gave her a look.
She almost smiled again.
Then the smile vanished.
“What if they already found my sister?”
Julian did not answer.
Grace’s breathing changed.
He saw panic arrive in pieces.
Her shoulders rose.
Her eyes moved too quickly.
She reached for her phone.
Julian said, “Call her.”
Grace did.
No answer.
She called again.
Straight to voicemail.
The color drained from her face.
“She never turns her phone off.”
“Maybe the battery died.”
“It doesn’t.”
“That is not how batteries work.”
“She charges it obsessively.”
Grace called a third time.
Voicemail.
Julian texted Marcus.
CHECK SISTER NOW.
Grace walked toward the garage exit.
Julian caught her arm.
“Where are you going?”
“To her.”
“No.”
“She could be hurt.”
“And whoever cut that brake line could be waiting for exactly that.”
Grace yanked her arm free.
“That is my sister.”
“And Amara is upstairs.”
The words stopped her.
Her face crumpled for one second.
Then she covered it.
Julian looked away.
He had seen men shot without feeling half as helpless as he did watching a mother choose which person she was allowed to fear for.
Grace lowered her hands.
“I hate you right now.”
Julian nodded.
“I know.”
“No, I mean it.”
“I know.”
“You get to stand there and tell me what is practical because nobody you love is upstairs asleep.”
Julian’s expression changed.
Grace heard her own words too late.
She closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Julian said nothing.
“Julian.”
He looked at her.
She had never called him that before.
“I’m sorry.”
His face stayed still.
Then his phone buzzed.
Marcus.
FOUND SISTER.
SAFE.
PHONE IN FREEZER.
Julian stared at the message.
Grace watched him.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward her.
She read it twice.
Then she blinked.
“Why is her phone in the freezer?”
Julian almost laughed.
“I have no idea.”
Grace called Marcus directly.
He answered.
“Your sister is fine.”
Grace put him on speaker.
“Why is her phone in the freezer?”
Marcus said, “She dropped it in soup.”
Grace closed her eyes.
“What?”
“She says rice didn’t work.”
Julian rubbed his forehead.
Marcus continued, “She saw online that cold air might help.”
Grace muttered, “Oh my God.”
“Her exact words were, ‘It seemed worth trying.’”
Grace’s knees nearly gave out with relief.
She sat on the edge of a workbench.
Julian leaned against the wall.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then Marcus said, “We have the blue box.”
Grace straightened.
“Did she open it?”
“No.”
“Did she ask why you wanted it?”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“That Mr. Hale needed tax documents.”
Grace stared at Julian.
Julian stared back.
She mouthed, Tax documents?
Julian shrugged.
Marcus said, “It was the first thing that came to mind.”
Grace covered her eyes.
“My sister thinks I hide taxes in a blue cookie tin.”
“Metal box.”
“That’s worse.”
Marcus sounded faintly amused.
“We’re bringing it back.”
Julian said, “No.”
Grace looked up.
Marcus said, “No?”
“Take it to the old medical office on Briar.”
Marcus understood immediately.
“Who gets access?”
“You, me, Grace.”
“Anybody else?”
“No.”
“What about Adrian?”
Julian’s face hardened.
“Especially not Adrian.”
Grace watched him end the call.
“You think your friend is involved.”
“I think everyone who lied about Mercer is involved in something.”
“Your brother too.”
“Yes.”
“And your father.”
“He’s dead.”
“That doesn’t mean he stopped causing problems.”
Julian looked at her.
Grace seemed surprised by her own sentence.
“So we go to the bank?” she asked.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because if Peter Salazar is alive, he may have known about the box before Claire gave you the key.”
Grace frowned.
“Then why not take it?”
“Maybe he couldn’t.”
“Why?”
Julian looked toward the damaged SUV.
“Because maybe the key isn’t the only thing required.”
Grace thought about that.
“Identification?”
“Possibly.”
“Signature?”
“Possibly.”
“Then Claire gave me a useless key.”
“No.”
Julian shook his head.
May you like
“She gave you something nobody else could use alone.”
Grace’s face changed.
