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“It is, Granddad, I promise. But we hoped you might be able to help us with something.” Lucas squeezed Aviva’s hand again.

“We’ve come to ask you about the bracelet that belongs to Vanessa’s grandfather.

” A storm cloud moved across the older man’s face as Lucas continued.

“Like I said on the phone, there’s a woman who’s been asking Hubert a lot of questions. ”

“What do I care about Hubert?” his grandfather snapped.

“I know that the two of you had a falling-out—” Lucas said.

“You don’t know anything about it, son,” his grandfather interrupted. “And to air our dirty laundry in front of a guest? What were you thinking?”

“Sir, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—” Aviva began, but the color was rising in Bill’s face, and he seemed not to hear her as he leaned across the table to speak directly to Lucas.

“It isn’t enough that you displayed that damned bracelet without asking me, and now this?” he demanded. “Questions that have no place being asked in front of a stranger?”

Lucas blinked a few times. “But why would I ask you about displaying the bracelet, Granddad? It belongs to Hubert, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, of course it does. But…”

“But what, Granddad?”

“But there’s so much you don’t know.”

“Okay,” Lucas said. “So tell us.”

Instead of answering, his grandfather stood and walked with difficulty to the mantel, where an old black-and-white family picture was displayed in a silver frame.

Aviva had noticed it on the way in; it was a couple in their thirties with a girl who looked to be around eleven or twelve—Bill and his wife with Lucas’s mother, she assumed.

Now, Bill stared at the image for a long time before picking it up. He glanced at Aviva and then back at Lucas, a look of resignation on his face. “Did you know that your grandmother had an affair, Lucas?”

Aviva choked on a sip of wine and glanced at Lucas, whose eyes had widened.

“Grandma?” he asked.

His grandfather nodded. “For many years. I suspect that even when this photograph was taken in 1950, the affair had already begun.”

“Are you sure?” Lucas asked. Aviva wanted to slip out of the room and leave them to their private family conversation, but then Lucas’s grandfather spoke again.

“It was the bracelet that gave it away, you see,” he said, and suddenly, Aviva understood. Just as the bracelet had played a role in the downfall of Daniel Rosman’s family members, and Colette’s, it had been involved in a betrayal of Lucas’s grandfather, too. Perhaps the piece was cursed.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Lucas said, his voice stiff, “you’re saying that Grandma had an affair with Hubert ?”

His grandfather looked him in the eye and nodded, seemingly waiting for him to put the rest of the pieces together.

“And that’s why you and Hubert had a falling-out? Because you found out?” Lucas put a hand to his forehead. “Did Vanessa know?”

“I don’t think Hubert told a soul, but what do I know? I wouldn’t have thought him capable of carrying on an affair with my wife beneath my nose—and his wife’s—for decades, either.”

“ Decades ? My grandmother and my wife’s grandfather were having an affair for decades? How did you find out?”

His grandfather finally put the photograph down, turning it away as if he couldn’t bear to look at the evidence that they’d once been a happy family. “She came home wearing the bracelet one day.”

Lucas shot a confused look at Aviva and then turned back to his grandfather. “But that’s not exactly evidence of an affair, is it?”

His grandfather sighed. “I had suspected for a long time that she was carrying on with someone, Lucas. I just never imagined it was with one of our oldest friends. Apparently…” He trailed off and drew a deep breath. “Apparently, he let her wear it each time they…” He shook his head in disgust.

“That’s why you’re so upset that I’m displaying it.”

His grandfather hesitated. “Yes. And if I didn’t know better, I might think that Hubert had given it to you deliberately, to ruffle my feathers.” His gaze flicked to Aviva. “And what is your friend’s involvement in all of this?”

“The woman who was asking Hubert all those questions is a good friend of Aviva’s.”

Aviva gave him a guilty smile, and he glowered at her and then at Lucas.

Sondra bustled back in then with three small salads, which she set in front of each of them before glancing around and registering the chill that had fallen over the room. “Is everything all right?” she asked.

“Just fine, Sondra,” Bill said stiffly. “Though I fear I’m losing my appetite.” He turned to Aviva as Sondra went back into the kitchen. “So this isn’t a friendly visit after all.”

“It is a friendly visit, sir,” Aviva said. “I’m sorry to upset you. It’s just that my friend Colette has been looking for the bracelet for more than seventy-five years, since the day her mother was arrested and her sister was murdered.”

Bill stared at her. “Murdered? I don’t understand.”

“The bracelet disappeared the same night Colette’s sister was kidnapped,” Aviva continued, “and we believe that if we can understand why Mr. Verdier had it, perhaps we’ll be a bit closer to discovering what happened to her sister.”

The color had drained from Bill’s face, and he tugged at his collar. “There was certainly no murder. Hubert isn’t—” He stopped abruptly.

“With all due respect, Granddad, how can you be so sure that Hubert was truthful with you about anything?” Lucas asked. “If he was dishonest enough to have an affair—”

“I told you I don’t want to talk about that!” Bill snapped, tugging at his collar once more. Aviva was beginning to worry about him; it was clear he was becoming agitated.

“I know, I know,” Lucas said, holding up his hands. “I’m sorry. I am. But Granddad, we need to get to the bottom of this. Aviva’s friend deserves to find some peace.”

“Peace?” He choked out a laugh. “The ghosts of the past sneak up on us all. You aren’t old enough yet to know that.”

“Granddad—” Lucas said, but his grandfather cut him off.

“Who is this friend of yours?” his grandfather asked, his gaze flicking to Aviva. “You say her sister was taken?”

“From her bedroom window,” Aviva said. “The same night the Germans came to arrest her family in 1942.”

He stared at her. “But this can’t be true.”

“Please, Granddad,” Lucas said. “Anything Hubert told you might help.”

“You think answers to decades-old questions will change a thing?” Bill was still staring at Aviva.

“And you, young lady. I know you must think you’re helping this friend of yours, but stirring up the past only hurts those who lived through it.

It’s all very entertaining to try to solve a mystery, isn’t it?

But do you understand that when old wounds are reopened, they hurt very deeply? ”

“I think, sir,” Aviva said gently, “that my friend’s wounds never closed. She has lived her whole life feeling that her sister’s death was her fault. I think that learning the truth about what happened would bring her some peace, at last.”

Bill looked at his plate for a very long time. None of them had touched their salads yet. In the silence, they could hear pans banging in the kitchen and the sound of running water.

“What became of your friend’s mother?” he asked at last. Aviva and Lucas exchanged glances; it wasn’t at all what she had expected him to say. “The one who was arrested.”

“Colette’s mother? She was executed by the Germans, sir,” Aviva said.

Bill made a noise in the back of his throat, but he didn’t say anything.

“Please, Granddad,” Lucas said. “If you know anything, we’re begging you to tell us. Help us bring Ms. Marceau some peace.”

Bill coughed sharply, and then silence descended once more as he continued to stare at his plate. “It’s too late,” he said, his voice thin and raspy.

“Too late for what, Granddad?” Lucas asked.

Bill didn’t answer right away. “Too late to change the past,” he said at last. “It’s done. Settled. Over. It’s a mistake to try to dig it up. A mistake for everyone.”

“I’m afraid, sir, that it’s being dug up anyhow,” Aviva said gently. When Bill turned to her, she said, “A man whose family it originally belonged to is planning to claim it, which will likely mean a legal inquiry about its provenance.”

Bill’s expression shuttered. “I know nothing about any of it.”

“Granddad—” Lucas said, but his grandfather cut him off.

“I’d like the two of you to go now,” he said calmly. “I’m sorry, young lady. I know I must seem quite rude. But I’m very tired all of a sudden.”

“Granddad!”

But Bill held up a hand to stop him. “Sondra!” he called, and Aviva couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t sound tired at all.

Sondra hurried back in and looked uncertainly at their untouched plates. “Sir?”

“We’re done with dinner, Sondra,” Bill said. “I’d like you to show Lucas and his friend to the door.”

Lucas stood, his jaw clenched. “Granddad, if you can think of anything else…”

“You’ll be the first to know, Lucas.” He looked at Aviva as she stood from the table.

“Come on,” Sondra said firmly. “I’ll walk you two out.”

As Sondra led them out of the room, murmuring an apology, Aviva could feel Bill’s eyes following her, and a shiver of certainty ran down her spine. He knew something. And that meant she was one step closer to the truth.