“No, she didn’t. It was years ago, and she barely paid me any mind at the time. I doubt she would have associated the girl I was withme.” She pointed down at her gown, the expensive lace gloves on her arms, her elaborate hairdo and taller figure.
“That was an unnecessarily dangerous thing to do and you shouldn’t have?—”
“I heard something,” Helena interrupted, cutting off his rant.
Silas frowned. “What?”
“I heard something. When I entered the shop, they were somewhere in the back rooms, but the woman had a very loud voice, and I could hear what they were saying.”
“Did they see you?” Silas asked urgently, grabbing her arm.
“No. Hush and let me tell you.”
“Humph,” Silas replied, but he subsided and let Helena tell her story.
“…and then since I couldn’t leave without the bell alerting them to my presence I opened and closed the door again. The clerk, Moses, came out and I asked for some edible flowers. I saidit was for my sick child, and I needed something to distract him. He ended up recommending so many products for catarrh. They’re even useful, in case you need them.”
Silas released a long put-upon sigh, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you did that.”
She laughed, “Why not? I got some information we didn’t have before. We now even know why my uncle hasn’t tried to kill me yet.”
Silas shook his head, but his tone softened slightly. “You’ve got a strange way of going about things.”
She peered at him, puzzled. “I thought you would be pleased.”
He stared incredulously at her. “You thought I’d be pleased that you put yourself in danger?” he asked with disbelief.
“Well… no. But I wasn’t really in any danger.”
“Unless they suspected you of overhearing something.”
“Well… they didn’t. I’m fine. And now we know about this diadem.”
“Not just that. We know your father had it.”
“Yes.”
“And that you are the only one who can get it.”
“What?”
He gave her a sidelong glance. “Hadn’t thought about that yet, had you?”
She shook her head slowly.
“You must tread very carefully from now on,” he said emphatically, looking intently into her eyes.
She looked back at him. “I don’t think that being careful is the important thing here.” She held up her hand to stall him as he opened his mouth in protest. “We must find out where this diadem is so that we can get it before they can. Whatever their plan is, it hinges on this jewel. If we get it before them, we will foil their plans. That’s how we get revenge for my father.”
“Did your father ever speak to you of a jewel or any inheritance?”
Helena bit her bottom lip, frowning as she tried to think of that time before her father died. But most of it was a blur, buried between years of cold, pain and rejection.
Slowly, she shook her head. “I can’t remember.”
“Do you know where your father would have kept something of value to him?”
Again, she shook her head. “We were not a family that spoke of such things.” She shook her head ruefully. “We didn’t speak about much of anything that concerned us directly. My father loved to teach me things about the world, but I’m realizing more and more that I didn’t know much abouthim.”
