And now she was telling him she had tried, repeatedly, desperately, sick and pregnant, to reach a man who had left her, and that her attempts had never reached him.

Before she stepped into a hailing cab, Elena delivered the sentence that told him where those attempts had gone.

“And your mother,” she said, “knew exactly who that envelope was meant for.” The cab door closed, and she was gone, and Alex stood alone on the sidewalk, and felt the first cold suspicion of what his mother had done begin to open beneath him like a sinkhole.

Chapter 7 — Beatrice’s Shifting Story