Chapter 4 - The Key in the Cookbook
Audrey's apartment had not been touched.
That worried Lorenzo.
“He wants us to come here,” he said.
Audrey unlocked the door.
“You don't have to enter.”
“Yes, I do.”
“This is my apartment.”
“And somebody threatened you.”
Audrey looked at Dante.
“Does he always do this?”
“Unfortunately.”
Lorenzo ignored them.
“Where's the key?”
Audrey crossed into the kitchen and pulled an old cookbook from above the refrigerator.
Lorenzo stared.
“You hid an important Sicilian family secret in a cookbook?”
“Nobody ever steals cookbooks.”
Dante nodded.
“She's got a point.”
Audrey opened the binding.
A tiny brass key dropped into her palm.
Lorenzo examined it.
“No markings.”
“My mother told me never to lose it.”
“Anything else?”
“One sentence.”
“What?”
Audrey hesitated.
“Where the lions watch the sea.”
Lorenzo and Dante exchanged looks.
“What?” Audrey asked.
Lorenzo walked toward the window.
“My father owns a house outside Palermo.”
“I don't care.”
“The entrance has two stone lions.”
Audrey froze.
“And the terrace overlooks the sea,” he finished.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does if your mother expected my father to find you.”
Audrey stared at the key.
Before anyone could speak, Lorenzo's phone rang.
He answered.
His father's voice came through.
“Lorenzo?”
“We found her.”
Silence.
Audrey's throat tightened.
Lorenzo continued.
“Her name is Audrey now.”
Another silence.
Then an older man's trembling voice asked:
“Is she there?”
Lorenzo held the phone toward Audrey.
She didn't take it.
“Alessandra?”
Her eyes closed.
She had spent fifteen years imagining hatred for the father who abandoned her.
Now he sounded broken.
“My name is Audrey.”
“All right.”
The man didn't argue.
“Audrey.”
“What do you want?”
“To hear your voice.”
“You've heard it.”
“Audrey—”
“My mother died believing you never came.”
“I came.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“Elizabeth disappeared before the fire. Bellandi told me she had taken you to America. Then the estate burned.”
His voice cracked.
“I searched for both of you.”
Audrey looked at Lorenzo.
He nodded.
Their father continued.
“I searched for fifteen years.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn't.”
The answer surprised her.
“You should see the proof yourself.”
“What proof?”
“The lions.”
Audrey looked at the key.
Her father whispered:
“Your mother left something there.”
The line disconnected.
Audrey looked at Lorenzo.
“When do we leave?”
He blinked.
“You're coming?”
“It's my key.”
A faint smile appeared.
“Tomorrow.”
“No.”
Audrey grabbed her coat.
“Tonight.”
Dante sighed.
May you like
“She definitely is your sister.”
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