Chapter 2
Clara did not sleep at the Marconi estate.
She tried.
At two in the morning, she was still sitting beside the bedroom window in the room she had grown up in.
Her wedding ring rested on the nightstand.
The second ring sat beside it.
Two circles of platinum.
One marriage.
One unanswered question.
Salvatore knocked before entering.
That alone told Clara he was trying.
Growing up, her father had considered doors suggestions.
Fatherhood had changed him slowly.
Her marriage had forced him to change faster.
He placed a cup of tea beside her.
“You need sleep.”
“You sound like my doctor.”
“I pay your doctor enough. I’m allowed to steal one sentence.”
Clara almost smiled.
Then she looked at the rings.
“You meant what you said tonight?”
Salvatore sat across from her.
“Which part?”
“About Gregory’s life being over.”
He understood.
“No.”
She looked at him sharply.
“I was angry.”
“That usually isn’t a distinction with you.”
“It is now.”
Salvatore folded his hands.
“You asked me not to touch him. I won’t.”
Clara studied her father.
“Even if he cheated?”
“Yes.”
“Even if he lied?”
“Yes.”
“Even if Eleanor knew?”
Salvatore’s expression hardened.
“Yes.”
Clara looked away.
“I don’t want this solved because everyone is afraid of you.”
“Neither do I.”
That surprised her.
Salvatore continued.
“If Gregory has another woman, I want you to know because there is evidence. If his mother is trying to end your marriage, I want you to know why. If he is innocent—”
Clara looked at him.
“You think he might be?”
“I think men panic for more reasons than guilt.”
She stared at the second ring.
Gregory had looked terrified when it fell.
But Salvatore was right.
Fear was not proof of an affair.
By eight the next morning, Clara called Rebecca Sloan, a matrimonial attorney who had represented several Marconi relatives but was independent enough to have refused Salvatore twice in the past.
Clara liked her for that.
Rebecca’s first instruction was simple.
“Do not confront Gregory again until we know what the ring is.”
Clara sent photographs.
The jeweler’s hallmark belonged to an upscale Chicago boutique.
Rebecca obtained a purchase inquiry through Clara’s investigator that afternoon.
The ring had been purchased thirty-two days earlier.
Buyer:
Eleanor Vale.
Clara stared at the name.
Not Gregory.
Eleanor.
Rebecca said, “That does not clear your husband.”
“No.”
“But it changes the question.”
Clara understood.
The question was no longer simply:
Who was Gregory planning to propose to?
May you like
It was:
Why had Eleanor purchased an engagement ring that her married son was carrying in his pocket?
