Chloe watched through the window. A black car appeared. One man hurried out with an umbrella while another opened the rear door. The elderly stranger climbed inside.
Dean stopped beside Chloe. "Your poor old man has a driver."
She did not answer. The strangest part was not the car; it was the way the old man had looked at Megan's pendant, as if he had spent years waiting to see it again.
Chloe walked several blocks before finding enough change for a late bus. Her apartment was small, but the landlord had known Megan and kept the rent low. Inside the refrigerator were eggs, half a tomato, butter, and water.
"Excellent financial planning," Chloe muttered.
She cooked the eggs, ate standing beside the counter, then removed the pendant. As a teenager, Chloe once suggested selling it when they were nearly evicted. A neighbor thought it might be valuable.
Megan had gone pale. "That never leaves this family," she had said.
"Why?"
"Because some things cost far more than they are worth."
At the time, Chloe thought it was one more adult mystery. Now she examined the worn flower and the faint letters on the back. She slept badly.
Early the next morning, her phone rang.
"Chloe Reynolds?"
"Yes."
"My name is Henry Foster. I need to speak with you about the man you met last night."
She sat upright. "How did you get this number?"
"The restaurant."
"They gave a stranger my number?"
"I am not exactly a stranger to him."
"Is he okay?"
"He is fine."
Relief came before she could stop it. "Then we are done."
"He wants to see you."
"Why?"
Henry hesitated. "Because of your mother."
Chloe ended the call. Minutes later, a photograph arrived.
The old man appeared decades younger beside a country house, an elegant woman, and a teenage girl. Around the girl's neck hung an oval pendant. Chloe enlarged the image: same flower, same border.
At the restaurant, the same black car waited outside. A dark-haired man in his 30s leaned against it in an expensive suit.
"Chloe?"
"Henry?"
He nodded. "My grandfather wants to explain."
"Your grandfather?"
"Arthur Foster."