Chapter 1
Callahan did not question Maple in front of the guests.
He ended the party.
Immediately.
Music stopped.
The caterers were told to pack everything.
Family members who had watched Delphine lock an eight-year-old child inside a garden shed suddenly discovered how interested they were in leaving quickly.
Callahan remembered every face.
He did not threaten anyone.
He did not need to.
Maple stayed against his chest while his consigliere, Nathan Vale, stood inside the shed holding the photograph.
“Daddy?”
Callahan looked down.
“Yes?”
“Am I in trouble?”
The question hit harder than Delphine’s cruelty.
“No.”
“Because I was supposed to stay inside.”
“You were never supposed to be inside.”
Maple looked toward Delphine.
“She said you don’t like when I ruin the grown-up parties.”
Callahan’s expression changed.
“Did I ever tell you that?”
“No.”
“Then don’t let anybody put those words in my mouth again.”
Maple nodded.
He handed her to the longtime house manager, Susan Price, and asked Susan to take her inside, get her changed, and remain with her.
Only after Maple was gone did Callahan enter the shed fully.
The boxes were labeled by year.
Maple’s fifth birthday.
Sixth.
Seventh.
This year.
There were Christmas packages too.
Handmade cards.
Children’s books.
A silver bracelet.
A stuffed rabbit still inside tissue paper.
None had ever reached Maple.
Callahan picked up one envelope.
It was addressed in handwriting he knew.
Evelyn.
Maple’s mother.
Missing for nearly five years.
Believed dead.
His hand stopped moving.
Nathan held out the photograph.
It showed Delphine and Evelyn sitting outside a small café.
Callahan recognized Delphine immediately.
Evelyn looked thinner.
Older.
Alive.
“How old is this?”
Nathan turned it over.
No useful date.
But the background mattered.
A promotional banner for a public arts festival was visible behind them.
Nathan knew the festival.
His sister lived in that town.
“It didn’t exist five years ago.”
Callahan looked at him.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“How recent?”
“Within the last two years.”
Callahan stared at the picture.
Delphine had not merely known Evelyn once survived.
She had been meeting her long after the world believed she was dead.
Behind him, Delphine said:
“You have no idea what you’re looking at.”
Callahan turned.
“Then explain.”
She looked toward the shed.
Not at the photograph.
At the boxes.
Her fear deepened.
May you like
Callahan noticed.
There was more inside than birthday gifts.
