Her heart sank.
My theater is in desperate trouble, Harriet had written.If it doesn’t find an investor soon, it will likely go under. I’ve given them everything I could manage to part with myself, because our fates are tied together, Harriet surmised.Should I ask Oliver for help with it? Any of our friends?
With a pang, Grace recognized herself in this, even though it seemed so silly now. Oliver would have loved to help Harriet. Just like Lillie loved to help her. Just like she loved to help Oliver when he needed it. Pride was such a silly thing.
A pebble hit the window.
She looked up sharply.
That was Theodore’s cue. Someone must be coming. Perhaps it was Harriet’s family, there to finish gathering her things now that thefuneral was over. Grace hurried to put the diary back. But her gaze caught on something else hidden in the drawer.
It appeared to be a small datebook.
There was another ding of a pebble against the window.
Grace drew out the datebook. It was barely bigger than her palm.
She hesitated, and slipped it into her pocket.
Then she opened the window sash and began to climb onto the fire escape.
“Hurry,” Theo hissed from below. She quickened her pace down the ladder.
She neared the end of the fire escape just as Caroline came around the corner.
Without hesitation, Theodore wrapped his arms around Grace’s waist, pulling her from the escape, as though they were lovers, merely out for a walk.
“I’m afraid I failed your task,” Theodore whispered roughly.
“Nonsense,” she said.
“That was too close, Covington,” he breathed into the curve of her ear as Caroline passed.
“I found something,” she whispered, hiding her face in the hollow just beneath his jawline. She inhaled his heady scent, and the feel of his hands instinctively tightening around her waist sent a shimmer of sparks down her neck. She fought against the almost incontrollable urge to kiss along the roughness of his throat, trailing up to the cut of his mouth. He scowled and swallowed hard, holding her tightly, and the look on his face said he was annoyed at having to be this close to her. But she could feel his heart beating hard and fast, betraying him through the fabric of his shirt.
She waited until Caroline’s footsteps had faded and Theodore’sgrip began to loosen. When he pulled away from her, she felt flushed and bothered. She tried to hide it by fussing with her dress and bringing his attention to the book in her pocket.
“Look what I found,” she said. “It’s Harriet’s datebook.”
They moved to the shade of the elm trees and she riffled through the pages, tracing the days before Harriet’s murder.
“There—” he said, pointing. “The day she met someone in the Tunnels, right?”
“Yes,” Grace said. Harriet had scrawled something down as if she were in a hurry. It said:
Fairgrounds↓9 a.m.—Jenny
“Jenny?” Theo asked.
“No,” Grace said, squinting, bringing her face closer to the page. “I think that’s aP.”
So Harriet had needed money for the theater, and she had gone to the Tunnels that morning to meet a woman named Penny.
A woman.
Not a man.
So either Walt had lied to her, or his source had made up the information to get money.
