Chapter 2
Evelyn Montelli had died four years earlier when her SUV left a mountain road outside Cold Spring, New York.
The official investigation concluded that she lost control in heavy rain.
There were no reliable witnesses.
The vehicle struck a guardrail and rolled down an embankment.
Evelyn died before rescuers reached her.
Sadie, then three, was not in the vehicle.
She had been home with Daphne.
The loss had devastated Alistair.
For months he barely spoke outside business meetings.
He eventually withdrew from several of the older Montelli family's operations, concentrating on legitimate real estate and hospitality investments while raising his daughter.
Corinne entered his life eighteen months after Evelyn's death.
She was polished, intelligent, and patient.
She never openly competed with Evelyn's memory.
At first.
Daphne had disliked her almost immediately.
Not because Corinne was younger.
Not because Alistair was remarrying.
Because Corinne asked unusually specific questions about Evelyn's final days.
Where she went.
Who she met.
What she kept in her office.
Whether she had left anything for Sadie.
Daphne remembered one conversation especially.
Corinne had asked whether Evelyn's car was ever examined again after the insurance settlement.
Daphne thought the question strange.
She mentioned it to Alistair.
He dismissed it.
Corinne had claimed she was interested because her brother worked in automotive insurance.
Now Daphne told him something worse.
Three months before Evelyn died, she had seen Corinne at a charity luncheon Evelyn attended.
They spoke privately near the garden entrance.
Evelyn returned visibly upset.
“What did she say?” Alistair asked.
“I don't know.”
“Did Evelyn tell you who she was?”
“No. She only said the woman had come about a business matter.”
“Why didn't you tell me after Corinne and I met?”
Daphne lowered her eyes.
“I wasn't sure it was the same woman. She wore her hair differently. And I thought you needed a chance to be happy.”
Alistair looked at Evelyn's photograph.
That answer hurt.
Not because Daphne had acted maliciously.
Because once again, someone had decided what he could bear to know.
He called Rebecca Sloan, the attorney who had handled Evelyn's estate.
“Find the original accident file.”
Rebecca paused.
“Why?”
“Because my fiancée knew my wife before she died.”
A silence followed.
May you like
Then Rebecca said:
“I'll have it in the morning.”
