Page 90 of The Unraveling of Julia

Julia rose, grim. “Wanna see if I have a well?”

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Julia surveyed the vineyard. The sun was bright, the day cloudless, and she could see all the way to the hilly treeline. “I walked the entire perimeter of this vineyard. I hacked away brush where I could, but it’s incredibly thick and grown together. I didn’t see a well.”

“Were you looking for one?”

“No, but how do you miss a well? I assume it would be near the villa, right? As opposed to the other side of the vineyard.”

“It’s wherever the water is. I think it’s as close to the villa as possible.”

“Which do you build first, the villa or the well?”

“I don’t know, I’m in sales.”

“Let’s look at the picture again.” Julia held up the phone and shaded the screen. “Wait. Do you see the little bit of background behind the well?”

“Make it bigger.” Courtney leaned over, squinting, and Julia enlarged the photo and isolated the background. Behind the well was a tiny sliver that showed two hills about the same height, planted in rows.

“See those two hills next to each other?”

“Somebody needs an underwire.”

“Very mature.” Julia smiled, already scanning beyond the vineyard, but there were so many hills it was hard to differentiate them. “Look in the distance and see if there are two hills close together like that. That could help us locate the well.”

Courtney turned toward the vineyard. “God, this place is one big thornbush.”

Julia double-checked the photo and the tiny rows on the double hills. “There were plantings on the double hills, probably grapes. They’d be bigger now, so we’re looking for plantings, not woods.”

“Got it.” Courtney scanned the scene, then pointed to the right. “Look. Could that be them? It looks like they might be olive trees.”

Julia turned to follow Courtney’s finger. “I see! You might be right.” She held the photo up in that direction, excited. “Look, it matches!”

“Yay! Now what?”

“So if we hack our way in a straight line from here to there, we should find the well.”

“Wait, let’s be profesh.” Courtney slid her phone from her pocket. “There’s a compass in Utilities. That would keep us straight.”

“Look at you!”

“I’m basically Magellan.” Courtney held up the phone compass. “It’s north-northeast.”

Suddenly Julia’s cell phone rang, and she glanced at the screen.GIANLUCA MORETTI, it read, giving her a start. “This must be the Italian cop.” She put it on speaker. “Marshal Torti?”

“Julia, this is Sherry, Gianluca’s mother.”

“Oh, hello.” Julia prayed Gianluca hadn’t taken a turn for the worse.

“I wanted to apologize for last night. We didn’t know about your late husband. Raffaella found out on your social media.”

Julia swallowed hard. She’d posted a death announcement onInstagram. “I should’ve mentioned it, but I was just so thrown off by what happened to Gianluca.”

Courtney shot Julia thumbs-up.

Sherry said, “Of course, I understand, and again, I’m sorry. Raffaella is, too.”

“No apologies are necessary, really. How is he?”