Conor reached for her hand. They stood there, looking out the window at the summer morning, at the blue-green Atlantic Ocean. They didn’t move. They hardly breathed.
“Never,” Conor said. “I never forgot, not even for a minute.”
And he kissed her, and Kate knew that they were staying. They weren’t going anywhere.
24
Monday, July 5; 12:00 p.m.
Conor and Kate walked through the lobby, and he spotted Sam and Lincoln standing in front of the model ofAphrodite. Sam ran over when she saw them.
“Maeve’s missing,” Sam said.
“That’s a little dramatic, putting it that way,” Lincoln said, hurrying to catch her. Conor noticed the cool, almost annoyed, tone in his voice.
“We haven’t seen her since yesterday,” Sam said. “She was supposed to meet us on the beach, for the ball last night. We saved a seat for her, and she never showed up.”
“I haven’t heard from her since we got back from the cemetery,” Kate said, sounding alarmed. “I’ve been texting her, but no answer. She wasn’t with you, Lincoln?”
“No, she wasn’t,” he said.
“You haven’t seen her all night?” Conor asked him. “Is it normal for her to stay away without letting you know where she is?”
“We don’t answer to each other,” Lincoln said. “We do our own things and get together when we want to.”
“I thought you lived together,” Sam said, turning toward him.
“Did you have a fight?” Kate asked.
“Look, I admit I’m getting a little concerned,” Lincoln said, and Conor noticed he didn’t answer the question. “But I can understandwhy she might have needed to go off alone and center herself. She’s not over the shock.”
Conor saw Kate’s troubled expression. Ever since last night, when he’d told her everything and they’d shut the world out of the Tower Suite, they had stopped worrying, stopped thinking about anything but each other. But now he could see worry building in her eyes. “This isn’t like her,” Kate said. “I wanted to show Conor that note we found, and I texted her about it. She still hasn’t answered me.”
“The one we found at the grave?” Sam asked. “I know where it is—in her car. I saw her put it in the center console as we were leaving the cemetery.”
Kate hurried toward the valet stand in the foyer, and Conor followed her. Dermot had just come through the door after bringing a guest’s vehicle around.
“Hello, Ms. Woodward,” Dermot said to Kate. “Need your car?”
“Not yet, Dermot,” she said. “I’m checking on my assistant, Maeve. Can you tell me if she picked up hers yet?”
Dermot didn’t even have to look at the master list. He shook his head, then paused as if remembering something. “No, I’m sure she didn’t.”
“Why are you so sure?” Conor asked.
“Well, she came out yesterday and gave me the ticket. I went to get her car, and when I drove it up, she was gone. I parked it in the upper lot, kept it close for her, thinking she would come back for it any minute, but it was still there when I left for the day. And it was right where I parked it when I got here this morning.”
“Where is it now?” Conor asked.
Dermot pointed at the lot across Bluff Avenue, and Conor walked straight over. Maeve’s dark-blue BMW was backed into a space, ready to go. Conor peered into the driver’s window, then walked slowly around the car.
He noticed that the painting Kate had bought for him was resting upright and leaning against the back seat. The cracked frame and torncanvas were clearly visible. Conor knew that meant that at one point, Maeve had been planning to go to the conservator. Had something interrupted her?
Kate crouched by the left front tire, reached into the wheel well, and came out with a magnetic metal box—the kind Conor knew some people used to hide a spare key. Kate started to use it to unlock the driver’s-side door. But the door was already unlocked. She leaned inside and opened the center console.
“The 1740 note’s gone,” Kate said, turning to Conor.
“Did you say 1740?” Dermot asked.
