Chapter 2 - THE KEY IN THE BLUE ROOM
By eight the next morning, the engagement dinner looked as if it had never happened.
The crystal had been removed. The flowers had been carried into the breakfast room. Staff moved through the mansion, collecting glasses, folding linens, and pretending they had not watched Dominic DeLuca accuse his fiancée of lying in front of her father.
Hannah sat at the end of the staff table wearing her black housekeeping uniform.
Mrs. Carter had ordered her to sleep after midnight and stop apologizing for telling the truth.
Victoria had heard only the word truth.
She entered the kitchen wearing cream trousers, dark sunglasses, and the diamond engagement ring Dominic had not yet asked her to return.
Everyone stopped talking.
Victoria looked directly at Hannah.
“You’re here.”
Mrs. Carter set down the coffee pot.
“Mr. DeLuca told her she remains employed.”
“I wasn’t asking you.”
The head housekeeper’s face did not change.
“That is fortunate. I was answering anyway.”
A dishwasher coughed to hide a laugh.
Victoria heard it.
Her mouth tightened.
Then she placed a small velvet pouch on the table.
“My grandmother’s sapphire earrings are missing.”
Hannah’s stomach turned.
Mrs. Carter folded her arms.
“And?”
“And Hannah spent yesterday wandering through rooms where she did not belong.”
Hannah looked up.
“I never entered your bedroom.”
“No. You entered the dressing room, challenged my orders, and stole a photograph.”
“I found the photograph beneath Mrs. DeLuca’s jewelry-box lining.”
Victoria smiled.
“According to you.”
Mrs. Carter stepped closer.
“According to the video.”
That ended the performance for several seconds.
Then Victoria opened the velvet pouch and turned it upside down.
Empty.
“Search her room.”
Hannah pushed back from the table.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am the future woman of this house.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“No.”
Dominic stood there in a dark sweater and black trousers.
He had not shaved.
He looked more dangerous for it.
Victoria turned.
“No?”
“You are my fiancée. That is not the same thing.”
Her face hardened.
“The earrings are missing.”
“Then security will review the cameras.”
“She could have hidden them anywhere.”
“And if you accuse one of my employees of theft again without evidence, you can explain to Daniel why your own rooms are being searched first.”
The kitchen went silent.
Victoria stared at him.
Hannah wished the floor would open.
Public rescue could feel as humiliating as public accusation when everyone watched you receive it.
Dominic noticed her discomfort.
“Hannah, come with me.”
Victoria laughed.
“Of course.”
He looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing, darling.”
“Say it.”
She slid the sunglasses onto her head.
“It means she seems to be receiving a great deal of private attention for a housekeeper.”
Hannah’s face burned.
Mrs. Carter inhaled sharply.
Dominic did not raise his voice.
“Your problem this morning is not Hannah’s job title.”
Victoria’s smile disappeared.
“Your problem is that Elena Russo wrote my aunt six weeks ago, and you knew enough about that woman to try emptying the box hiding her photograph.”
Charles entered behind Dominic.
He had stayed at the mansion overnight.
“Not here.”
Dominic glanced at him.
“I agree.”
He looked at Hannah.
“Study.”
Hannah followed him out, feeling every pair of eyes on her back.
Aunt Teresa was waiting beside the fireplace.
The letter from Elena lay open on Dominic’s desk.
Beside it sat the photograph.
Dominic shut the door.
“Read the second paragraph.”
Hannah frowned.
“There were only three lines last night.”
“There was writing inside the envelope flap.”
Aunt Teresa tapped the paper.
“My sister used to do that when she was afraid someone would open her mail.”
Hannah leaned closer.
A faded pencil message ran along the inside fold.
If Lucia’s paper is ever needed, begin where the blue room watched over her son. The saint never moved, even when the walls did.
Hannah looked at Dominic.
“The blue room?”
“My nursery.”
Aunt Teresa nodded.
“Lucia painted it blue before Dominic was born. Salvatore had it remodeled after she died.”
“Where is it?”
“The east wing.”
Charles laughed from near the window.
“You’re chasing riddles written by a frightened old woman.”
Aunt Teresa looked at him.
“You seem unusually bothered by riddles you consider meaningless.”
Dominic folded the envelope.
“Daniel checked Elena’s address.”
“And?”
“She lives in an assisted-living residence outside Milwaukee.”
Aunt Teresa’s eyes widened.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Charles looked away.
Hannah saw it.
So did Dominic.
Victoria entered without knocking.
“I want Hannah searched before she goes anywhere else.”
Dominic’s expression did not change.
“Why?”
“My earrings.”
Daniel appeared behind her.
He held the sapphire earrings between two gloved fingers.
“I found them.”
Victoria turned.
“Where?”
“In the pocket of the coat you wore yesterday.”
The silence that followed was exquisite.
Mrs. Carter, standing behind Daniel, did not smile.
She did not need to.
Victoria reached for the earrings.
Daniel did not hand them over.
“Mr. DeLuca asked me to log them first.”
Victoria’s cheeks reddened.
“You searched my coat?”
Dominic looked at her.
“You wanted a search.”
Hannah lowered her eyes before Victoria could see the relief on her face.
Dominic turned toward the hall.
“We’re going to the east wing.”
The old nursery had become a storage room for unused furniture and framed photographs.
The walls were ivory now.
A faded strip of blue paint remained behind a radiator.
Aunt Teresa walked around the room.
“The crib was there.”
She pointed toward the north wall.
“Lucia’s rocking chair beside the window. And the Madonna was above it.”
“What Madonna?” Hannah asked.
“A small porcelain relief. White ceramic. Blue veil.”
Dominic searched the wall.
Nothing.
Daniel checked the storage inventory.
“Renovation records say a religious plaque was removed twenty-six years ago and placed in basement storage.”
Victoria spoke from the doorway.
“This is absurd.”
Everyone turned.
Dominic’s gaze sharpened.
“How did you know we were here?”
She folded her arms.
“It’s my house too.”
“No,” Aunt Teresa said. “It keeps becoming less so.”
Victoria ignored her.
“Dominic, you have a meeting in forty minutes. Your board is coming. Your wedding is in six weeks. And you are digging through storage because a maid found an old photograph.”
Hannah flinched.
Dominic did not.
“Daniel, basement.”
The storage basement smelled of cedar, stone, and dust.
Rows of shelves held lamps, silver trays, boxes of winter decorations, and furniture wrapped in cloth.
Daniel found the porcelain Madonna in a wooden crate marked EAST WING.
Aunt Teresa touched it gently.
“That’s her.”
The figure was smaller than Hannah expected.
A woman in a blue veil holding a sleeping child.
Dominic turned it over.
Nothing.
Victoria exhaled.
“There. Mystery solved.”
Hannah studied the back.
“There’s fresh dust around the edge.”
Dominic looked closer.
A narrow wooden backing had been screwed behind the porcelain.
The screw heads were scratched.
Recently.
Daniel removed them.
Behind the panel was a shallow compartment.
Empty.
Except for a brass key.
And a torn strip of blue paper.
Dominic picked up the paper.
On it, in Lucia’s handwriting, were three words.
CARUSO LEDGER. BOX 17.
Aunt Teresa gripped her cane.
Charles, who had followed them downstairs, went pale.
Dominic saw him.
“What is the Caruso ledger?”
Charles answered too quickly.
“Nothing.”
Aunt Teresa turned toward him.
“That is a remarkable answer for a man who supposedly has no idea what any of this means.”
Hannah looked at the brass key.
A number had been stamped into its head.
17.
Dominic handed it to Daniel.
“Find every box, safe, deposit room, and archive connected to that number.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“You are not postponing the wedding over this.”
Dominic faced her.
“I haven’t decided what I’m postponing.”
Her expression cracked.
“You embarrass me in front of staff, let her accuse me, search my clothes, and now threaten our wedding because of a dead woman’s paperwork?”
Hannah could feel the cruelty gathering before Victoria aimed it.
“She wants this, Dominic.”
He frowned.
“What?”
Victoria pointed at Hannah.
“She wants you to think she saved your precious family history. She wants sympathy. She wants access. Look at her. She earns barely enough to pay rent, and she’s in private rooms discussing family shares.”
Hannah’s throat tightened.
Aunt Teresa stepped forward.
But Dominic spoke first.
“Her bank account has nothing to do with whether you lied.”
Victoria laughed.
“You always did enjoy rescuing broken things.”
Dominic’s face changed. “Leave.”
Victoria stared at him, then walked upstairs with Charles.
Aunt Teresa touched the brass key. “Caruso kept the private books when the Hales borrowed against Lucia’s shares.”
Dominic looked at her. “And somebody replaced the page where she refused the debt?”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s phone rang. He listened, then raised his eyes.
“We found Box 17. The key belongs to a private vault company downtown.”
Dominic stood.
Daniel did not move.
“There’s a problem. Someone opened that box yesterday.”
Hannah felt the basement suddenly become colder, though no door had opened behind them.
“Who?”
Daniel turned his screen around.
May you like
The access record showed one authorized visitor.
VICTORIA HALE.
