“Mama had a hiding place?”

I set the Bible back in place and realized there was a small leather box behind it. Cartier was embossed on top, and inside was a pair of platinum earrings, panther faces glittering with diamonds, each with slitted emerald eyes that looked surprisingly fierce. A small strip of paper, no larger than a fortune cookie message, was tucked inside. The handwriting was different from the other note, cramped and spidery: Caroline, I know you hate extravagance, but I couldn’t resist. I am so proud of you and everything you’ve accomplished. Our family’s luckiest day was the one when you joined us. Ever fondly, Theodore Teddy bounded into the closet, and I instinctively snapped the box shut and shoved it back on the shelf. “You find it?”

I looked around. Amid the dresses and shoes and hatboxes, I wondered if there was a secret alcove. “Where?”

“There.” He pointed at the chest of drawers in the closet.

“In the drawer?”

“No.” Teddy sounded exasperated. “Behind it.”

The chest of drawers seemed too heavy to move. “I don’t understand, Teddy.”

“Pull it.” He reached for the top drawer but was too tiny to reach it. “Pull.”

I pulled it open.

“All the way,” Teddy said.

I slid the drawer out.

“See?” Teddy said.

I peered inside. There was no back on the chest of drawers. Instead, I saw a wall safe.

“Do you know the code?” I asked. This was a new low for me, wrangling clues out of a small child.

“Mama said it’s secret.”

I tried Caro’s birthdate, then Teddy’s, then our parents’, and finally my own. Nothing worked.

“Lunchtime!” Gloria called up the stairs. “Get the grilled cheese while it’s hot!”

That made Teddy squeal. “Let’s go!”

I slid the drawer back into place and closed the closet door. My heart was heavy as I followed Teddy out of the room. My sister’s secrets were tantalizingly close, but they remained out of reach for me.

CHAPTER 36

DEIRDRE

In the afternoon, I took Teddy to the Central Park Zoo. We shared a love of sea lions, so that was a favorite spot. When we got back to the house, the front door was ajar. I paused at the foot of the steps, then turned to Teddy. “Promise to stand right here for a minute?”

“Okay.”

I crept up the stairs, wondering what was going on. Then I heard a sharp voice. “I can’t tell her not to come here. She has a right. She’s his aunt.” It was Gloria speaking.

“I am ordering you not to let that woman in here. She is a monster and can’t be trusted.”

My heart clenched tight. Were they talking about me? At that moment, I noticed Teddy creeping beside me. “Ammy!” he shouted. I followed him in.

“Liebling!” A silver-haired woman with bones barely bigger than a sparrow’s reached down to hug Teddy. Her printed silk dress hung on her like she was nothing more than a hanger, and her crocodile handbag was wider than her hips. She looked for all the world like a lady who lunches, despite the fact she hadn’t been in the same room with solid food in weeks.

“Ursula, you remember Deirdre,” Gloria said. “Caroline’s sister.”

“Yes, of course. How are you, my dear?” Ursula surprised me with a kiss on the cheek. She smelled like pressed powder and juniper.

“Hi,” I said awkwardly. After what I’d just heard, I was expecting her to push me down the steps.

“There are cookies,” Teddy said, tugging at Ursula’s dress. “I smell them.”

“I caught the scent as soon as I came in. Gloria is such a fine baker.” Ursula said it with enthusiasm, but it was clear no cookie had passed her lips this century.

“How was the zoo?” Gloria asked me.

“Cookieeeeee!” Teddy insisted.

“Okay, but just one. You don’t want to spoil your appetite for dinner.” Gloria shook her head as he raced by her. “That boy really loves cookies.”

“The park was great,” I said. “Teddy could hang out there all day, every day.”

“Teddy is lucky to have a nice auntie who wants to spend time with him,” Ursula said. “Unlike his other auntie.”

That made everything clear—they’d been talking about Theo’s sister, not me.

“What’s Juliet done now?” I asked.

“In English you have this one word, troublemaker,” Ursula said. “But in German, we say Unruhestifter, Klatschbase, Provokateur, about a dozen more. Different words for different trouble.”

“Which one is Juliet?”

“All of them,” Ursula said. “But I like St?nkerin best.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. After what Adinah Gerstein had told me about Ursula going through Caro’s room, I wasn’t going to trust her. But I’d been pawing through my sister’s belongings too. Maybe I couldn’t throw stones.

“Auntie Dee, you’re coming to dinner?” Teddy called down the hall while munching on a cookie that probably wasn’t his first.

“Your grandpa invited me yesterday.”

“Don’t let her come over here,” Ursula hissed at Gloria.

“Okay,” Gloria answered uncertainly.

“What did Juliet do?” I whispered.

“There are ongoing conversations about custody,” Ursula said, her eyes on Teddy. “Which do not strike me as appropriate.”

We crossed the street and walked up the steps to the other Thraxton house, the one I’d never been inside. It’s unbelievable, Caroline had claimed. Like a museum. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s ridiculous anyone lives like that. She hadn’t been exaggerating. A butler answered the door. Past the foyer were a pair of massive stone lions guarding the broad hallway. They looked ancient, like something on display at the Met.

“Trains!” Teddy said.

“Of course, darling,” Ursula said. “Go and see the trains. Grandpa has them set up for you.”

Teddy skidded around one of the lions and vanished.

“Don’t worry—he knows this house inside out,” Ursula said. “Care for a drink?”

She led me into a parlor. The house was so much larger than Theo and Caroline’s. With the hallways leading east and west as well as north, I was willing to bet this mansion had swallowed real estate on either side of it. This wasn’t so much a house as a palace. Oddly, the lighting was turned down low, as if the Thraxtons were watching their energy bill. Because it was so dim, I didn’t immediately realize someone else was in the parlor when Ursula walked me in.

“Well, aren’t you the little ray of sunshine, Deirdre?” cooed a sly voice from the corner. In the gloom, I spotted Theo’s sister on a settee, her plush body spilling out of a tiger-striped dress.

I was wearing jeans and black leather boots with a draped and shirred black top, my version of church-and-family-dinner attire. “If I’d known I was going on safari, I would’ve worn khaki.”

Juliet smiled like she’d caught a canary.

“Why are you still here?” Ursula asked her.

“Because my father is keeping me waiting.” Juliet gave her a snooty once-over and looked at me. “Did you know that Ursula used to be our nanny?”

I glanced at Ursula, who was staring daggers at Juliet.

“Yes, she lived in our house, and she loved borrowing all of my mother’s finery—her shoes, her jewelry, even her husband,” Juliet said.

Ursula made a muffled sound, like a wounded animal, and fled the room.

“Why would you say that?” I demanded.

Juliet shrugged. “Because it’s true.”

I was never someone who backed away from fights, but I couldn’t imagine hurling such nasty words at anyone. “That was cruel.”

“How would you feel about the woman your father was having an affair with?” Juliet asked. “Especially after he married her and tried to make you call her ‘Mommy’?”

“Did that really happen?”

“Your mouth is hanging open, Deirdre. Not your best look. But yes, it happened.”

“My sister never told me about that.”

“Your sister didn’t have a clue.” Juliet examined her nails in the low light. “Mind if I ask you a question? Did some part of you despise your sweet sister?”

“How could you even think that?”

Juliet shrugged carelessly, clearly delighted to get a rise out of me. “I know we’re supposed to love our families, but I find it difficult. I don’t even like mine.”

What had Ben said? The entire Thraxton family is a criminal organization. “Maybe your family is particularly unlovable, Juliet.”

She laughed at that, holding up her glass as if toasting me. “That could be true,” she said before taking a drink. “But if we’re honest with ourselves, nature is red in tooth and claw. We’re supposed to pretend our siblings are our allies, but the secret is that they can be our worst enemies.”

In spite of myself, I was intrigued. “Is Theo your enemy?”

She patted the cushion next to her, signaling for me to sit down. “I’ll tell you something about him if you tell me something about your sister.”

That was tantalizing, but before I could speak, I heard footsteps in the hallway.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Juliet. I had to . . .” Theodore noticed me and smiled. “Deirdre! How delightful to see you.”