Juliet propped her head on her hands as if she were considering the question. “Everyone should have a hobby.”

My sister mocked everything, but I wasn’t letting her shunt this off to the side.

“Before we married, you gave Caroline an etiquette guide,” I said. “You told her she would need it.”

“I remember. She actually seemed excited about it.”

“She was,” I said. “She read it cover to cover. But then you gave her another etiquette book, and another. She was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you simply had to prove what a horrible person you were, didn’t you?”

“If you’re hosting charity galas, you have a responsibility to know what a fish fork is.”

“You were hateful to her, and you made her life miserable.”

Juliet leaned back in her chair, smiling. “Let me get this straight. I’m a bad person for schooling a climbing vine from Queens? Okay, fine. What does that make you for keeping so many dirty little secrets from her?”

“What’s past is past.”

Juliet laughed. “Our father’s famous words. How convenient for you, Theo. It lets you off the hook, doesn’t it? You didn’t tell your new wife that you’d killed your first wife because that’s in the past.” She leaned forward. “Let me tell you something. The fact you butchered a woman is the first thing I think about when your pathetic face crosses my mind.” She picked up the phone on her desk. “Now get out of my office before I call security.”

CHAPTER 16 DEIRDRE

CHAPTER 16

DEIRDRE

I blinked at Jude. “You mean ex-boyfriend, right?” I said, thinking of the old photo I’d thought Caro sent me by mistake.

“I don’t know.” She tapped a button to decline the call.

“You’re saying my sister was seeing this guy?” I was incredulous. Caro had never hinted at anything like that to me. “I don’t believe it.”

“I’m not a hundred percent sure,” Jude said. “They were extremely close, and then Caroline broke up with him and they never saw each other again. Until he popped up a few months ago.”

“Caro gave me a bunch of photos, and there was one of her with Ben. I couldn’t understand why. It was from a house in High Falls . . .”

“From when they lived together.”

“They what?” I couldn’t hide my astonishment.

“They lived in High Falls for about a year. It was back when you two weren’t speaking,” Jude said.