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“So maybe it’s not really a missing egg?”
She hated to disrupt his hope, but she shook her head. “I’m relatively sure of it, Lucas, but we need proof. But backing up, I’d say I need to tell my family first. After last night, it won’t be easy.” Her voice thickened at the thought of facing more vitriol, but Lucas was right.
This was too big to contain now. A killer had struck, and her family could be next.
Her arms tightened around Noah. Their safety was more important than a priceless Fabergé egg. No amount of money would be worth the loss of her family. The poor woman inside had already paid a final price.
Fifteen
It was a long, quiet ride back to Beaufort. Carly started to speak several times, then lapsed into silence. What could she say? Finding those documents had been the fuse that lit all of this trouble. If she’d never found that folder, Anna might still be alive.
The family was gathered around the dining room table when she and Lucas entered. She’d told Lucas he didn’t have to come, but his jaw flexed and he said,“I’m not leaving you alone to face this.”
And she didn’t have the heart to argue. Knowing she had someone in her corner stiffened her spine and lifted her chin.
Her grandmother was the first to see her, and she started to rise. Carly shook her head. “I think you’d better stay seated, Gram. There’s a lot to tell you. Too much.”
Her gaze swept around the table. Amelia and Emily looked a little shamefaced, but maybe it was Carly’s inherent optimism that made her think they might regret their harsh words. Isabelle sprawled in her chair and stared at her phone as if what the older siblings had to say had no bearing on her life. But it affected them—all of them. At least Dillard had gone back to Jacksonville.
“Isabelle, would you take the baby?” she asked.
Her sister looked startled, but she put down her phone and held out her arms. Noah was a heavy weight in Carly’s arms, and she laid him in Isabelle’s arms. Should she sit or stand? Stand, Carly decided. The weight of what she had to say would come across better if she stood.
“I found something else in the attic. I’d tried to keep it secret because its discovery will change everything.” It had ended everything for Anna, and Carly choked on her next words and lost her train of thought. Feeling cold, so cold, she shivered.
Lucas moved close enough for Carly to feel the heat of his body warming her up. He set his hand on her shoulder. “Want me to tell it?”
A lump formed in her throat, but she shook her head. “There was a garish red egg wrapped in a Russian shawl in the chest. At first glance I thought it was a child’s toy, but it was far more than that. I saw white porcelain through some chipped paint and decided to clean it up.”
The family’s attention was focused completely on her, and she pushed herself to get it all out. “As soon as the paint was gone, I realized I held one of the missing Fabergé eggs.”
No one gasped like she had. No one flinched or showed any emotion, but then, they wouldn’t know what that meant. “Fabergé eggs were created for the wife of the tsar of Russia. In 1885 Tsar AlexanderIII gave the first one to Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. Records show a total of fifty-two eggs created, but some are missing. The chest held one of the missing eggs, the Hen with Sapphire Pendant.”
Emily gasped. “It’s worth a lot of money?”
“I don’t even know how much. Millions. Fabergé eggs all had what was called a ‘surprise’ inside. The surprise in our egg is missing, and I’d hoped to find it before news of this got out. Media will be camping on our lawn when they hear about this. It will be nearly impossible to search for the surprise once it all comes to light.”
“Then why are you telling us, sugar?” Gram asked. “The contents of the chest belong to you. You didn’t have to reveal it now.”
“I know,” Amelia said. “Russians broke into the house, right? So someone knows.”
Carly gave a jerky nod. She met Gram’s gaze in an unflinching stare. “They killed the woman we were going to see, Gram. They trashed the house looking for something—maybe the surprise. If she had it in her possession, they found it.”
“The woman we thought might be a relative?” Gram asked.
Carly nodded. “Lucas found her. We never had a chance to talk to her.”
He squeezed her shoulder as if to tell her she’d done a good job. “The egg is in a safe place, so no one breaking in here will find it. But everyone needs to be vigilant. While Carly won’t announce this to the media, it may leak out. I hope not, because it will put you all in greater danger.”
“But why?” Isabelle asked. “If it’s safe, it’s safe.”
“What do you think your sister would do if the killer kidnapped one of you and demanded the egg in return?” Lucas asked.
“She’d give it to them,” Gram said. “And they’d probably kill us all to make sure there were no witnesses.”
At least Gram got it. Carly’s mouth was dry as she thoughtabout how bad this could get. How did she get them out of this mess? Give the egg up willingly? But how did she do that when she didn’t know the shadowy assailant out there or how to reach him? Her family was precious to her, even if her sisters didn’t believe it. She’d willingly give the Russians everything she owned to protect them.
Right now that didn’t seem to be an option.
