“What did you learn from her?” I asked, gently nudging her to recall better memories.
Mina kept her gaze steady. “I learned how to really see people, for better or worse.” Her voice took on a different timbre, almost as if she was slipping into a different persona, her voice sounding more like Miss 1962’s raspy one. It sounded so familiar, and at first I figured it was merely because I’d gotten to know her grandmother this past summer. But no, that wasn’t it—or it wasn’t the only reason.
I spoke slowly as my thoughts coalesced. “Mina?”
She shifted toward me.
“You said that you worked onSmall Town, Big Romance, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What exactly did you do?”
“I told you. I was a gopher before I was pulled into work off-screen.”
“And off-screen, you were…?” I waited for her to finish the statement.
“The interviewer,” Mina answered, her eyes narrowing as if she wasn’t sure where I was going with these questions.
I closed my eyes. That’s why I’d recognized Mina’s voice. It wasn’t just that she sounded so like the grandmother she resembled. I knew her voice from the clips of the show. Mina had been there all along.
“Why are you asking?” Mina wondered, hesitant at my inquisitiveness—and perhaps a bit defensive. “You don’t think that I have anything to do with this weekend, do you? Because I wasn’t hiding anything.”
“No, no, it’s not that,” I tried to reassure her. “I’m just trying to find all the links. This helps.”
Mina nodded, accepting my explanation and then seemed to remember something. “Lee didn’t like that they’d pulled me into the show that way, said it distracted me from ‘being behind the camera.’” She put the last few words in air quotes and lowered her voice to better match his. “He thought that Brett had something to do with me getting on the show.”
I noticed the purple rings lining her eyes. She was exhausted.
Mina heaved out a deep breath before standing and facing me, and I was reminded that the concerns about Brett, though important, weren’t the first thing on her mind. She was thinking about her grandmother too.
She sniffled as she spoke. “It’s gonna be hard, isn’t it?”
I knew exactly what she meant, and there was nothing I could tell her to make it less painful.
Savilla leaned her head against my shoulder, reminding me that she was there with us. “I told Mina about my father. And about your mother, about losing her.”
I didn’t mind that she’d shared this experience, not really. But I still wasn’t sure what to say about the coming days. It would be hard beyond her wildest imaginings, and then it would slowly start to seal over, like a fine layer of balm, the balm of time. The wound would always be there, at least in the form of a scar, but that’s how I wanted it. I didn’t want to forget.
Mina hesitated a second longer before reaching out to pull both me and Savilla into a hug, the three of us bonded by loss. Then, without another word, she walked away.
Savilla and I watched her go, and then I tried to collect myself and bring some semblance of normalcy back to the moment. Regardless of our personal feelings, we also had a job to do.
“I think we should check out your dad’s office,” I decided. “Maybe he had information about the estate, the Rose Diamond, the password.” I was forming a plan of action as I spoke, but it felt right. I recalled the layout of the dollhouse. “It’s on the fourth floor, right?”
“Good memory,” Savilla said. “Let me grab my keys from behind the front desk.”
As she went to find them, my mind created a new pathway as to how we might solve this case. If we could find any clues about the password or if we could figure out how the Rose Diamond had disappeared before making its way into Brett’s throat one day ago, then perhaps we could find the murderer.
I checked my watch, counting the hours until midnight when the emails would be released. About five to go. The dominoeswere ready to fall, and I felt in my gut that it started with the most treasured Finch jewel.
“All right. You ready to visit the Diamond Mine?” Savilla asked, coming back with her key ring.
I scrunched my nose. “Is that what he called his office?”
Savilla smiled. “I named it that when I was a kid because it sounded more interesting than his boring old office. I would make treasure maps and force Nanny Kate to go on adventures all around the grounds. I had new names for every room.”
Nostalgia passed over her face, which reminded me of the fact that whether or not she showed it, she’d lost so much in such a short time.
