I was a starving little girl when a wealthy woman threw water at me during a Manhattan gala. Then my necklace fell out—and she dropped to her knees.

The manager’s name was Victor Hale.

He had stood beside me in the security office while we searched footage of my mother. He had told Helen one camera was turned away. Now the police had a recording of him walking into the garage behind Sarah.

I asked Evelyn why he would do that.

“I don’t know yet,” she said.

I could see she hated saying it.

The detective came to the hotel where Sarah and I were staying and explained what the recording showed. Victor took Sarah’s envelope. During the struggle, Sarah struck her head against the garage wall. Adrian stood near the car. The camera angle did not show every moment afterward, but a later clip showed Victor driving away while Sarah was no longer standing.

“Why did nobody call for help?” I asked.

The detective looked at Sarah before answering.

“That’s what we’re asking them.”

Victor had worked for the Whitmores before taking the hotel job. Adrian had recommended him. Police were interviewing him that day.

Sarah sat beside me on the sofa, one hand at the back of her head.

“I could have died there,” she whispered.

I put my arms around her. She held me so tightly I could feel her shaking.

Evelyn stepped toward us and stopped. She had begun to understand that wanting to hold us was not the same as being invited.

Sarah noticed.

“Sit down, Mom,” she said.

Evelyn sat in the chair across from us. She looked startled by the word Mom.

Later, while Sarah rested, she told me about the photograph in my locket.

“She was only a day old,” Evelyn said. “Your grandfather took that picture. Sarah wore this locket when she was young.”

“Why is the stone blue if it’s called a ruby?”

“It’s an old family name for a rare gem. Your grandfather thought every teardrop needed a bit of sky.”

I turned the locket over in my hands.

“Mom used to say it was a promise.”

“I gave it to her when she left home. I told her to keep it until she wanted to come back.”

“She gave it to me when I started school.”

Evelyn smiled through tears.

“I’m glad she kept it.”

That afternoon, Mr. Bell brought records from the family company. He had found annual statements showing money set aside for Sarah’s shares. Payments had been marked as sent to an account in her name.

Sarah had never opened that account.

Mr. Bell would not tell her the total until he verified the records. I could tell it was more than a few months of rent by the way he looked at Evelyn.

“Who had access to the account?” Sarah asked.

“Adrian’s office handled the paperwork,” he said. “We’re requesting the bank records.”

Evelyn turned to him.

“Do it today.”

The next morning, Victor agreed to speak with the police. His attorney was present. He admitted he had taken the envelope because Adrian asked him to. He claimed Adrian said Sarah was trying to extort the family.

I had heard that word in a movie. I asked Sarah what it meant.

“It means he’s saying I tried to get money by threatening him.”

“But he asked you to come.”

“Yes.”

“Will the police know?”

“They have his letter.”

Victor also said Adrian told him to move Sarah away from the gala entrance after she fell. He had left her near the parking garage where a delivery driver later found her.

Sarah listened to the report in silence.

I wanted her to shout. She looked too tired even to lift her cup of tea.

When the detective left, she went into the bedroom and closed the door.

I found Evelyn standing at the window.

“I trusted Adrian to help me find her,” she said.

“Why didn’t you ask someone else?”

“I should have. He told me each search had failed. I wanted to believe he was doing everything he could.”

“Mom wanted to believe you wrote back.”

Evelyn turned to me.

“People can hurt each other badly when they let someone else carry the message.”

I thought of the years Sarah had lived only a few miles from her mother.

That evening, Sarah came out of the bedroom with her father’s letter.