He Offered $400,000—She Asked for Her Mother

Chapter Three: The Woman at the Gate

Julian offered Nora a hotel room. She accepted only after he made the booking in her name and gave her the confirmation without asking for anything in return.

“The ring stays with you,” she said.

“It does.”

That afternoon, Nora returned to the Mercer house with him. She refused his suggestion that they pretend to be engaged to make the visit easier.

“If the truth makes your family uncomfortable, they can be uncomfortable.”

Beatrice sat beside the conservatory window with a blanket across her knees. When Nora showed her the photograph, she reached for it with both hands.

“Evie,” she whispered. “Where has she been?”

Julian crouched beside her chair.

“Uncle Victor said she stole your bracelet.”

Beatrice looked down at the gold bracelet on her own wrist.

“He told me she'd gone to help her daughter.”

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Then Nora said, “Did she leave you anything?”

Beatrice pointed to the drawer beneath her writing desk. Inside was a plain envelope marked with Julian's name. Evelyn had left it the day before she disappeared. Beatrice had forgotten it after Victor insisted the matter had been settled.

Julian opened it in front of them.

There were copies of invoices for repairs Beatrice did not remember authorizing, and a note in Evelyn's careful handwriting: Ask the contractors directly. Please don't let him make her sign anything else until you do.

Nora recognized the writing immediately. She also recognized the frightened restraint of the note. Her mother was not a woman who made accusations casually.

Victor entered while Julian was reading the final page.

He stopped when he saw Nora.

“Who brought her here?”

Nora stood beside Beatrice's chair.

“The woman you said my mother went to visit.”