Nineteen years earlier, the night he realized Martin Vale had betrayed him, Alex copied critical records onto microfilm.
He needed somewhere nobody would search.
He placed it inside the hollow setting of the sapphire.
Then gave the ring back to me.
Three days later, he secretly removed the capsule.
I nearly shouted.
“You used me as a hiding place?”
“For three days.”
“You put evidence connected to criminals on my body?”
His face tightened.
“I was desperate.”
“You could have gotten me killed!”
“I know.”
Sophie stood silently between us.
“Where did you put it afterward?” Maya asked.
Alex looked toward me.
“I gave it to someone I trusted.”
“Who?”
His answer stunned me.
“Evelyn's father.”
“My father?”
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
My knees weakened.
My father had died eleven years earlier.
A quiet accountant.
Church every Sunday.
Crossword puzzles at breakfast.
He had hated Alex.
Or pretended to.
“What did he do with it?”
