Page 92 of The Unraveling of Julia

Julia halted, grimacing. She couldn’t begin to think she was yanking on the remains of her own mother. “Court, really? Are youtryingto freak me out?”

“Sorry.” Courtney cringed. “Don’t stop.”

Julia pulled the chain, and a black box popped through the plant material. “Thank God! It’s like a shoebox.”

“Maybe it’s shoes!”

Julia laughed, releasing the tension. She pulled up the box and grabbed the handle, which was rusted. The box was metal enameled black and in surprisingly good condition. “Please tell me it’s not locked.”

Courtney pointed to a keyhole on the side. “It’s locked.”

“Shit.” Julia turned the box this way and that. Something shifted inside. “God knows where the key is. It could be anywhere.”

“How do we open it?”

“Watch.” Julia picked up the box and bashed it on the side of the well, making a dent. She bashed it again and again, until the dents distorted the shape of the box. The lid popped on one side. She turned the box around and bashed the opening, and in the next moment, the lid broke.

“Victory! Open it! Maybe there’s money inside!”

“We’re already rich, remember?”

“Speak for yourself.”

Julia sat on the ground, pried off the lid, and looked inside the box. There was a manila envelope with no writing. She picked out the envelope. “I guess Rossi put it here. It doesn’t look older than fifty years.”

“Hurry up! Open it!”

Julia turned the envelope over, undid the brass brad, and peeked inside. There were three white envelopes, so she took them out and set them on the ground.

“What is this? A game?”

“Hold on.” Julia opened one envelope, and it contained a thick pack of multicolored bills in a paperclip, but they weren’t euros. She slid one out, and it read1000 LIRE BANCA D’ITALIA, with an engraving of a woman. “This is a lira, from before euros.”

“Let me find out when they changed.” Courtney checked her phone. “Italy used lira until about 2000 or so. You were right, it’s old. Open the next one.”

Julia went to the next envelope, opened it, and slid out the contents, two green passports that readREPUBBLICA ITALIANAabove a gold embossed emblem, thenPASSAPORTO. “Italian passports.” Her chest tightened as she picked one up. “I’m almost afraid to open it.”

“Want me to?”

“No, I got it.” Julia opened the passport to a black-and-white photo of Rossi when she was a younger woman. Her eyes were clear, her gaze direct, and she was smiling at the camera. “This is her.”

“Shedoeslook a little like you.”

Julia turned the passport sideways and read the name,ELENA RITORNO. “What? Elena Ritorno? Her name is Emilia Rossi. That’s not her name, but that’s her photo.”

“She’s Jason Bourne.”

Julia was too tense to laugh. “So is this a passport with a fake name?”

“It could be, or it could be her real name and Emilia Rossi is her fake name.” Courtney sat down beside her, eyeing the passport. “See, the initials are the same. ER. People keep the same initials when they choose aliases.”

“How doyouknow?”

“From Matt Damon. Open the other passport.”

Julia picked up the other passport and opened it to a black-and-white picture of a baby with cute features, a perfectly round head, and light brown hair. Her heart wrenched. “Ababy.”

“Do you think it’s her baby?”