Chapter 4
By morning, Julian had moved out of Vanessa’s Back Bay condominium.
He did not return to Cesare’s house.
Instead, he took Avice to his own townhouse in Beacon Hill.
Cesare approved.
Avice needed her father more than another family meeting.
Cesare remained at the museum.
He wanted to know how often Vanessa had used the private cloakroom.
The museum’s events director, Helen Avery, pulled the gala preparation calendar.
Vanessa had attended six planning dinners over four months.
Diane had personally requested access to the private donor lounge for all six.
That by itself meant nothing.
Then Helen remembered something.
“Vanessa always changed here.”
“Why?”
“She said pregnancy made formal gowns uncomfortable.”
“Was Diane with her?”
“Usually.”
Cesare said nothing.
Helen hesitated.
“There was one strange thing.”
During a rehearsal three weeks earlier, Avice had wandered into the lounge looking for Julian.
Vanessa came out of the cloakroom carrying her gown over one arm.
Avice apparently stared at her.
Diane immediately took the child upstairs.
“What happened afterward?”
“Diane told me Avice was becoming jealous of the baby.”
Cesare felt his jaw tighten.
The pattern was beginning to show itself.
Avice had seen the false stomach.
Instead of changing the lie, Diane had begun changing how adults interpreted the child.
That afternoon Julian came back to the museum.
He looked as if he had not slept.
“I checked every photograph.”
Cesare waited.
“In some of them, the belly is different.”
He put his phone on the table.
At a dinner in May, Vanessa appeared barely pregnant.
At another event eleven days later, she looked much further along.
Three weeks after that, the shape was smaller again.
Julian had never noticed.
Cesare did not mock him.
He knew what trust could do to a man's eyes.
“I wanted it to be true,” Julian said.
Cesare looked at him.
“The baby?”
“The life.”
Julian sat down.
“I wanted Avice to have someone. I wanted the house to feel normal again.”
Cesare understood.
That was precisely why the lie had worked.
It had been shaped around something Julian desperately wanted to believe.
Then Helen returned carrying a small clear evidence bag.
“The staff found this inside the cloakroom carpet after everyone left.”
Inside was a narrow fabric label.
It had torn loose from the padded belly.
A manufacturer’s name was printed across it.
Cesare recognized the company.
Not because he had ever purchased anything from them.
Because the museum had.
May you like
They supplied theatrical props for historical exhibitions.
Which meant someone connected to the museum might not have needed to buy the belly privately at all.
