Chapter 4 - THE CHILD WHO REMEMBERED A FACE
Posy was drawing when Adeline returned home.
She had filled an entire sheet of paper with a blue castle, a yellow sun, and a woman wearing an enormous purple hat.
"That's you," Posy announced.
Adeline examined the picture.
"Why am I wearing a hat the size of a refrigerator?"
"Because rich ladies wear ridiculous hats."
Adeline laughed.
"Who told you that?"
"Mrs. Dempsey."
"Of course she did."
Posy held up another drawing.
This one showed a black car.
A man stood beside it.
He wore a long coat and sunglasses.
Adeline's smile faded.
"Who's that?"
Posy shrugged.
"The man who asked about you."
Adeline's blood went cold.
"What man?"
"He came to the school gate yesterday."
Adeline knelt.
"What did he say?"
"He asked if you still worked at the big hotel."
Adeline gripped the edge of the table.
"What did you tell him?"
"Nothing."
"Good."
Posy frowned.
"He said he knew Mommy."
Adeline went still.
Their mother had died three years earlier.
"What else?"
"He said he was a friend from the hospital."
Adeline looked at the drawing.
"Can you remember his face?"
Posy nodded.
"He had a scar here."
She touched the side of her chin.
Adeline swallowed.
Silvio Marchetti had a small scar beneath his jaw.
She had noticed it when he appeared in the penthouse doorway.
"Did he tell you his name?"
Posy shook her head.
"No."
Then she looked up.
"Addie?"
"Yes?"
"Are we in trouble?"
Adeline forced herself to smile.
"No, sweetheart."
But she couldn't make the lie sound convincing.
That evening, she contacted the school, asked them to document the encounter, and updated Posy's authorized pickup list.
Then she called the police nonemergency number to report the threatening messages and the stranger approaching her sister.
She didn't know whether anyone would take her seriously.
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But she knew one thing.
She would not wait until Posy was hurt before asking for help.
