Chapter 10 - The Forty-Seventh Guest
There had been forty-seven guests at Lily’s party.
Maya could name perhaps fifteen.
Richard’s coworkers.
His cousins.
Neighbors.
Parents from preschool.
Vanessa.
Olivia.
Ben.
But one man had stood alone near the side fence almost the entire afternoon.
Gray hair.
Brown jacket.
No drink.
No conversation.
He disappeared before Maya packed her suitcases.
Julian’s investigators found him five days later.
His name was Martin Hale.
Seventy-two.
Former controller of Orchid Capital.
When Maya heard the name, she immediately called Samuel.
“You knew him?”
Samuel went silent.
“That’s complicated.”
“Everything is complicated with you.”
Maya arranged the meeting anyway.
Martin chose a diner in Brooklyn.
Public.
Crowded.
He sat in a back booth.
When Maya entered, his eyes filled with tears.
“You look like her.”
Maya sat opposite him.
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
“You have her eyes.”
“I need answers, Mr. Hale.”
“I know.”
“Why were you at my daughter’s birthday?”
Martin looked ashamed.
“Olivia invited me.”
Maya froze.
“Why?”
“To see whether you had the ring.”
Maya’s skin prickled.
“She knew I had it?”
“She suspected.”
“Why didn’t you tell her?”
“Because I saw what Richard did.”
Martin looked down.
“And I realized the Vances hadn’t changed at all.”
Maya studied him.
“Were you involved in what happened to my mother?”
“Yes.”
The directness shocked her.
“How?”
“I helped Charles hide transactions.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
He did not offer excuses.
“I was thirty-eight. I had debt. Two children. Charles paid me.”
Maya’s voice became cold.
“And my mother?”
“She discovered it.”
“What happened after?”
Martin wrapped both hands around his coffee.
“Olivia panicked.”
“Because of prison?”
“No.”
He looked at Maya.
“Because Charles was sleeping with Evelyn.”
Maya stared.
“What?”
“Years earlier.”
“No.”
“It ended before you were born.”
Maya’s chair seemed to move beneath her.
“Was Charles my father?”
Martin immediately shook his head.
“No.”
Relief came so quickly she hated herself for it.
“Then why does it matter?”
“Because Olivia never forgave her.”
Maya slowly understood.
The financial betrayal had not been purely financial.
Olivia hated Evelyn personally.
“Did Olivia order my kidnapping?”
Martin’s face changed.
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I knew she hired people to frighten Evelyn.”
“Frighten?”
“I never knew a child would be involved.”
“That’s convenient.”
“It’s the truth.”
Maya leaned forward.
“Then tell me something inconvenient.”
Martin looked at her for a long moment.
“Your mother didn’t simply abandon Orchid.”
“I know.”
“She built a trap.”
“What kind?”
“She knew Charles and Olivia would keep stealing if they thought they had won.”
Maya’s pulse quickened.
“So she let them.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To create a record.”
Martin removed an old key from his pocket.
Small.
Brass.
Stamped with an orchid.
“She placed duplicate financial ledgers somewhere Charles couldn’t reach.”
Maya stared at it.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what does the key open?”
“Your mother told me the other half of the answer would be with you.”
Maya thought of the ring.
The vault.
The letters.
Then something came back.
A childhood memory.
Her mother planting orchids in a window box.
Maya once asked why she loved the flowers so much.
Evelyn said,
“Because they survive where people think they shouldn’t.”
Maya took the key.
“Why give me this now?”
Martin looked across the diner.
“Because Olivia called me after the party.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me Maya Ashford had finally opened the vault.”
Maya’s blood chilled.
“And?”
“She said it was time to finish what we started.”
Maya stood.
“You should tell police.”
“I already did.”
Martin slid a card across the table.
Federal investigator.
Samuel had apparently contacted them after tracing the shell companies.
Martin had agreed to cooperate.
Before Maya left, he said,
“There is one more thing.”
She turned.
“Richard knows more than you think.”
“How much?”
“I saw him with Charles two nights before Charles died.”
Maya stopped.
Richard’s father had died six years earlier from an apparent heart attack.
“What were they discussing?”
Martin swallowed.
“The Ashford trusts.”
Maya stared.
Richard knew.
Maybe not everything.
But long before the birthday party, Richard had known Maya was connected to money.
Her entire marriage shifted in her memory.
Richard asking about her mother’s belongings.
Richard encouraging her to throw away old boxes.
Richard getting furious when she refused to sell her mother’s jewelry.
Richard once asking why she always wore “that ugly ring.”
Had he known?
That evening, Maya searched through scanned copies of Evelyn’s files.
She found nothing about the brass key.
At midnight, Lily woke from a nightmare.
Maya climbed into bed beside her.
“Bad dream?”
Lily nodded.
“Daddy was yelling.”
Maya stroked her hair.
“You’re safe.”
“Grandma was there.”
Maya’s hand stopped.
“Grandma Olivia?”
Lily nodded.
“What did she do?”
“She wanted your flower.”
Maya’s heartbeat quickened.
“What flower?”
“The necklace.”
Maya sat up.
“When?”
Lily shrugged.
“At our house.”
“Before your birthday?”
“Yes.”
“What did Grandma say?”
Lily squeezed her rabbit.
“She told Daddy to take it when you were sleeping.”
Maya went completely still.
Lily continued sleepily,
“But Daddy said he couldn’t because you never take it off.”
There it was.
Proof of intention.
Not enough for court.
But enough for Maya.
Richard had known.
May you like
He had known for years that her past might be worth something.
And suddenly Maya wondered whether he had ever loved her at all.
