Chapter 4 - Grace's last summer
Grace Moretti had been afraid during the final summer of her life.
Vincent never knew.
That truth became unbearable once he discovered it.
Three years earlier, the Morettis had spent July at a lake house two hours from the city.
Vincent remembered it as one of the happiest months of his marriage.
Lily was learning new words.
Grace spent mornings painting by the water.
Vincent worked from the terrace and complained every time Grace closed his laptop.
They argued about nothing.
They cooked.
They laughed.
They made plans.
But Grace had been carrying a secret.
Martha began reconstructing it from the pieces left in the bedroom.
Grace kept journals.
Most were ordinary.
Notes about Lily.
Books she was reading.
People she wanted to invite to dinner.
Arguments with Vincent.
Dreams.
But one journal was missing.
Martha knew because the remaining volumes were dated.
April.
May.
Then August.
No June or July.
The months at the lake.
Martha searched every shelf.
Nothing.
The missing journal became the first thing she wrote down.
The second was the photograph.
The third was the blue box Lily had mentioned.
She made the list in a notebook she kept locked in her room.
She had no idea Vanessa was keeping a list too.
At the top of Vanessa's list were six items.
Blue box.
July journal.
Sapphire locket.
Foundation audit.
Lake house receipt.
Original codicil.
Five of the six were missing.
Vanessa had found only one.
The lake house receipt.
It had been tucked behind a framed photograph in Grace's room.
The receipt was from a small auto repair shop forty miles north of the lake.
Dated nine days before Grace died.
The description was brief.
Inspection requested by owner.
Concern regarding brake pressure.
No repair authorized.
Vanessa had stared at the receipt for almost a minute when she found it.
Then she photographed it and burned the original in the guest room fireplace.
But she did not know Grace had made a copy.
Martha found that copy inside an old recipe book.
She did not understand its significance.
Not yet.
The official report on Grace's accident said she lost control on a wet mountain road.
The car went through a barrier.
Mechanical failure was considered unlikely.
No evidence of another vehicle was found.
Vincent had never questioned it.
Grace had called him twenty minutes before the crash.
He did not answer.
He was in a meeting.
That missed call haunted him enough.
The idea that something else might have happened was too large to imagine.
Martha decided she needed to speak with the only person who had been with Grace during that final summer besides Vincent and Lily.
Her name was Evelyn Shaw.
Grace's closest friend.
Evelyn had moved to Boston after the funeral.
Martha found her number.
"Mrs. Shaw?"
"Yes?"
"This is Martha from the Moretti household."
Silence.
Then warmth.
"Martha. My goodness. Is Vincent all right?"
"Yes."
"Lily?"
"She is why I'm calling."
Martha closed her bedroom door.
"I need to ask about the summer before Grace died."
Another silence.
Longer.
"What about it?"
"Was Grace afraid of someone?"
Evelyn did not answer.
Martha waited.
Finally Evelyn said, "Why are you asking now?"
"Because I think someone has been searching her room."
The line went quiet enough that Martha checked whether the call had disconnected.
Then Evelyn whispered, "Vanessa?"
Martha's entire body went still.
"You know Miss Cole?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Grace knew her."
Martha sat down.
That single sentence altered the shape of everything.
"Vincent believes he met Vanessa after Grace died."
"He did."
"But Grace knew her before?"
"Not socially."
"Then how?"
Evelyn exhaled slowly.
"Vanessa worked for one of the companies that handled donations for the Moretti Foundation."
Martha closed her eyes.
The foundation.
Vincent had inherited it from his father but Grace had run most of its charitable work.
"What happened?"
"Grace found irregularities."
"Money?"
"Yes."
"Vanessa?"
"I don't know exactly. Grace never gave me the full details."
"Why not?"
"Because she thought someone was monitoring her."
Martha gripped the phone.
"Evelyn, I need you to tell me everything you remember."
Evelyn's voice dropped.
"Two weeks before Grace died, she came to my apartment. She brought Lily because she didn't want to leave her at the lake house."
"What did she say?"
"She said she'd found payments that didn't make sense. Shell companies. False vendors. Donations disappearing."
"Did she name anyone?"
"One name."
Martha barely breathed.
"Who?"
"Julian Cole."
Vanessa's older brother.
Martha knew the name.
Everyone around Vincent did.
Julian was a financial consultant.
He had advised three Moretti subsidiaries.
He was also the man who first introduced Vanessa to the Moretti Foundation after Grace's death.
Martha stood abruptly.
"Evelyn, did Grace ever mention a blue box?"
The answer came immediately.
"Yes."
Martha closed her eyes.
"What was inside?"
"I don't know."
"Where is it?"
"I don't know."
"Did Grace tell Vincent?"
"No."
"Why?"
"She was going to."
"When?"
"The night she died."
Martha felt the room tilt.
Evelyn continued.
"Grace told me she finally had enough proof. She said she had copied everything and hidden it somewhere nobody would think to look."
"The box?"
"I assume so."
"And then?"
"She called me that afternoon."
"What did she say?"
"That someone had searched the lake house."
Martha's hand tightened around the phone.
"Who?"
"She didn't know."
"But she suspected?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
Evelyn hesitated.
"Julian."
Martha almost ended the call to find Vincent immediately.
Then Evelyn said, "Martha, there is one more thing."
"What?"
"The day after Grace died, Vanessa called me."
Martha sat back down.
"Vanessa?"
"She asked whether Grace had given me anything."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
"Did you tell Vincent?"
"No."
"Why?"
"At the time I thought she was calling on Julian's behalf. I didn't understand who she was."
Martha stared at the wall.
"And now?"
"Now I think Grace was right to be afraid."
Martha ended the call.
She took the auto repair receipt from her notebook.
Concern regarding brake pressure.
Nine days before the accident.
Her hands began to shake.
She went downstairs to find Vincent.
He was not home.
May you like
Vanessa was.
And she was standing outside Martha's room.
