Chapter 15: The Study

Nathaniel drove me to Lake Forest at nine with Tripod in the back seat and the heater broken.

He didn't argue about coming.

He didn't ask to come in, either.

"I'll be at the fountain," he said. "If anybody puts a hand on you, I'm going to drive this car through the front door."

"It's a Volvo."

"It's a very solid Volvo."

The gate opened before we reached it.

The housekeeper was waiting on the front steps in her black cardigan.

She took my coat without a word and walked me down the hall to the study.

Santino was standing behind his desk.

He hadn't shaved.

I'd never once seen him unshaved in three years of marriage.

The driver stood by the window with his hands folded in front of him.

Livia sat in the green leather chair across from the desk, in a cream blouse, with her tablet on her knees and her ankles crossed.

She looked up when I came in and smiled.

"Close the door," Santino said to the housekeeper.

"Leave it open," I said. "She stays. He stays. I want people in the room."

Santino looked at me for a long second.

Then he nodded to the housekeeper, and she stood just inside the doorway with her hands clasped.

I took out my wallet.

I laid the printout on his desk, face up, with the red URGENT flag showing.

I laid my phone beside it, open to the call log.

Then I laid down Mama's note from the sewing box, the one dated the morning of the gala.

I didn't say anything.

Santino picked up the printout first.

He read it standing up.

His face didn't change, but his hand did.

The paper started to shake, very slightly, at the corner.

"Livia," he said.

"Santino, she's had weeks to make that."

"I'm going to ask you some questions," he said. "One at a time. You're going to answer them in front of my people."

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