Chapter 16
Her eyes moved to the letter.
Then to Alexander.
“You found it,” she whispered.
Alexander’s voice was low. “You put it in the box?”
Olivia closed the door behind her.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Why?”
She looked at me.
“Because I couldn’t keep it anymore.”
“You kept it for years,” I said.
“I know.”
“Why send it now?”
“Because Alexander was finally going to send Grace’s things to you. I realized I had no right to hide behind silence any longer.”
“You didn’t send it to me. You placed it where he would find it.”
“I thought he would open the box.”
“He didn’t.”
“I didn’t know.”
“No,” I said. “You didn’t know a great deal, did you?”
Her lips parted, but no answer came.
Alexander gestured toward the chair. “Sit down.”
She did.
I remained standing.
“Tell me about the phone call,” I said.
Olivia folded her hands in her lap.
“You called me at 3:36.”
“Yes.”
“Where were you?”
“At the party.”
“Did Alexander know you were speaking to me?”
“No. He was in the ballroom.”
“What did I say?”
“You asked for him.”
“Did I tell you Grace was dead?”
Olivia closed her eyes briefly.
“Yes.”
The room became utterly still.
“What exactly did I say?”
“You said, ‘Grace is gone.’”
I felt the words move through me.
I had said them.
I remembered now.
Olivia had asked what I meant.
I had said, “She’s dead. I need Alexander.”
And Olivia had replied, “Emily, you’re upset. You should call your husband later.”
I had thought the memory was part of the confusion.
It had not been.
“What did you do after I told you?” I asked.
“I ended the call.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That Alexander would leave the party. That everyone would know you had called me. That he would blame me for telling him.”
“You were afraid of being blamed?”
“I was afraid of losing him.”
Alexander flinched.
Olivia looked at him. “I had spent years believing that if I waited long enough, he would return to me. I told myself your marriage was unhappy, that he stayed because of Grace, that he would eventually realize we belonged together.”
“Did he tell you that?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then why did you believe it?”
“Because I wanted to.”
The answer was so simple that it left no room for anger.
She looked down at her hands.