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“It is? Well, I’ll be home for a few days before I leave for Macau. Let’s talk tomorrow.”
“Okay, let’s talk tomorrow. I’ll be home in the morning,” I agreed and hung up.
I would get answers tomorrow.
Now, I just had to get through the night.
Winter
The morning ended up busier than I’d expected. I’d had a call from Alan, the PI, early on and promised to go and see him after I’d spoken to my dad. With a heavy heart, I drove through the ornate gates of my childhood home.
He was waiting for me in his study, his gaze glued to several computer screens. He gave me a distracted smile when I went in and sat across from him. My heart was all but in my mouth, and I had no idea how to start the conversation I needed. He was on the phone and held up a finger to signal that he needed a minute. I stood and walked the perimeter of his office as I waited.
I’d been in this room countless times, but today, I saw the awards and framed pictures with a new eye.
I stopped at a formal-looking collage of my parents’ wedding. There was a series of pictures, starting with the nuptials and going along to the reception.
There was a picture I’d never studied that well before. A woman stood beside my dad and grandmother. My father had come up behind me and followed my gaze.
“Your aunt, God rest her soul. Ruth, my younger sister.”
Right. I’d always known that my dad had had a sister, but I’d never met her. She’d died before I was born.
“How did she pass?” I wondered.
Dad was quiet for a long time. “She was very…troubled. She struggled with things, life, the choices she had to make, or couldn’t.”
“So, she took her own life?”
He nodded. “It was the worst day of my life.”
“I’m so sorry.”
He took my hand and squeezed it. How could this man who had only ever been warm and kind to me be involved with people like the Fitzgeralds? It didn’t add up.
My gaze slid down the photo to my late Aunt Ruth’s arm, and I peered at a familiar shape there.
“Is that my bracelet?” I held up my wrist to compare.
Dad nodded. “A family heirloom passed down the female line.”
“What does it mean?” I asked, turning my hand so that the creepy Latin inscription caught the light. In Tenebris Prosperamus.
“Nothing important. Archaic nonsense. No one lives by those old rules anymore. It’s a relic from a different time.”
“Why did Duncan give it to me? Why did he even have it? Mom didn’t like that,” I said, recalling the fuss my mom had made about the bracelet when I’d gotten it as a gift.
“She doesn’t like what it stands for, even if that’s antiquated and retired now. It’s the principle of it. My parents and Ruth, they had a difficult relationship. Ruthie never fit into the mold that they wanted for her. Your grandparents could never accept that. When Ruth died, they hadn’t spoken in over a year. I’m guessing Ruth gave Duncan the bracelet sometime before she passed. They were close.”
I was quiet for a long moment, gathering my nerve. “I want to talk to you about Duncan.”
“What about him?” Dad asked as we sat down at his desk.
“Have you ever been to the Fitzgeralds’ club near Bar Harbor? The Cove?”
Dad shook his head. “Duncan rarely talks about it. I think he can tell it wasn’t my thing. I believe you can gamble there, but I’ve never been a gambling man. Workaholic, sure, guilty as charged, but that’s about my worst vice.”
I stared at him, disappointed not to get more out of him.
