Chapter 4
Peter asked to meet at a coffee shop near Marcus’s house.
I wanted to call the police and have them meet him there. He refused to give me the storage unit address over the phone, and I had no reason to trust him. I called the officer handling Nora’s case and told her about his offer.
“Don’t go alone,” she said. “I’ll send someone.”
Marcus came with me. Two plainclothes officers sat at a table near the door.
Peter arrived carrying no coat despite the cold. He looked like a man who had left home in a hurry.
“You brought police,” he said.
“Nora was locked under my house.”
“I know.”
He pulled out a chair.
“I helped Celeste move boxes to the unit on Thursday,” he said. “She told me she was clearing the house before the wedding. I saw the folder when one box split.”
“Why call me now?”
“Because she called this morning and said Nora had accused her of locking her up. I asked her what happened. She told me to keep quiet.”
He swallowed.
“Then she said if anyone asked, you’d rented the unit to hide papers from your brother.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“What papers?”
Peter took a folded receipt from his pocket.
“I don’t know everything. There were file boxes, a small safe, and a bag of Lily’s old things. Celeste told me she was keeping them somewhere Daniel wouldn’t look.”
My hands closed around my cup.
“Lily’s things?”
“A pink backpack. Some drawings. I didn’t open the bag.”
Lily had been asking for the backpack Amelia bought her before she started school. Celeste told us it had gone to a charity collection by mistake.
I had believed her.
I looked at the officers. One approached and asked Peter for the receipt. Peter gave it to him and began repeating his account for the record.
Before we left, Peter said, “I should have asked questions when she wanted me to move it. I’m sorry.”
I did not know what his apology was worth yet.
At Marcus’s house, Lily was awake. She sat at the kitchen table with Lena, drawing a picture of Nora.
She had made Nora much taller than she was.
“Why does she have a crown?” I asked.
“She doesn’t,” Lily said. “That’s her hair when it’s messy.”
I sat beside her.
“Uncle Marcus and I found some of the things you thought were gone. We’re trying to bring them home.”
“My pink bag?”
“Maybe.”
She pressed her pencil to the paper.
“Celeste told me Mom’s scarf had to go because it made me sad.”
Amelia’s green scarf had hung inside Lily’s closet for two years after her death. Lily used to sleep holding one end of it.
“Where is it now?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Celeste took it while I was at school.”
I had noticed the scarf was missing. Celeste said Lily had asked her to put it away.
Lily had been told I agreed.
I drew a breath.
“She shouldn’t have taken it without asking you,” I said.
“I told her that. She said little girls don’t know what’s good for them.”
Lena’s hand came to rest on my shoulder. I had to look away from Lily for a moment.
“I’m going to help you get it back,” I said.
That afternoon, I met with Amelia’s trust manager, Ruth Calder. She had handled the account since Amelia died and knew its terms better than I did.
“Celeste contacted me twice,” Ruth said after I explained. “She asked whether marriage would give her authority to approve expenses for Lily.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her only the named trustees have that authority. You and Marcus are named. I asked whether she was calling on your behalf.”
“What did she say?”
“That she wanted to understand the arrangements before joining the family.”
Ruth hesitated.
“She also asked what would happen if you were unable to make decisions.”
I felt the room tilt.
“And?”
“Marcus would continue. If neither of you could act, the alternate trustee named by Amelia would step in.”
Celeste could have read that in the papers. I wondered why she had kept asking.
“Who is the alternate?” I asked.
“Lena.”
Marcus and Lena had stood beside Amelia and me through her illness. Celeste knew them both. She knew neither would surrender Lily’s trust to her.
My phone rang before I could ask another question. It was the officer.
They had obtained access to the storage unit and found my blue folder.
“Is Lily’s backpack there?” I asked.
“Yes. There are other belongings we’ll need you to identify.”
She paused.
“There’s also a draft letter addressed to your daughter’s school. It says she is to be withdrawn immediately after your wedding.”
“Lily hasn’t been told anything about changing schools.”
“We know. There’s one more thing. Celeste wrote your name at the bottom.”
I stared at Ruth across the table.
That evening, I returned to Marcus’s house. Lily was playing in the living room. Celeste’s car was parked across the street.
May you like
I stopped before I reached the front walk.
She had found us.
