Griff was standing beside her. “All I can add is that Granddad screwed around with young prostitutes. Thirty years ago that was shocking but not now.” When he turned to look out the big glass doors, he seemed to be contemplating something. He turned back to her. “I have a secret. Not even your father knows this. I want to write about Vera, too. I want to lead in with Granddad, but then go on to Vera. The truth is that I want to do a bio on your mother.”

She turned to him. “She will not like that!”

“Don’t I know it. I tiptoed around the idea with her, but just a hint and I thought she was going to take a fork to my chest.”

“If she thinks you’re going to be writing about her, she’ll never tell you a word.”

He didn’t reply, just looked at her.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“When I first met your parents, all I heard was Mike this and Mike that. Except with your dad, it was Michaela this and that. They told me you spent every summer with them.”

“I did.” She was cautious. It sounded like he was leading up to something.

“And the months with your parents were peaceful?”

“Yes.”

He took out his phone and began to read from his notes. “I did a bit of research. On the sixteenth of July 2007, when you were ten years old, Vera Exton covered the aftermath of a major earthquake in Japan. Her reports brought tears to the eyes of viewers around the world.”

“Sometimes she had to leave.”

“But you stayed home in safety?”

“Of course.”

“I find that interesting, as Miguel’s photos of the earthquake were magnificent. They show real empathy for what the people were going through. I guess you were left with a babysitter.”

Mike didn’t reply.

“The next year, on the eleventh of June 2008, Cuba announced they were going to change their economic policies that had been in place since 1959. Aren’t the old cars there great?”

“They are! And the colors! I thought—” She glared at him. “Are you finished?”

“Almost. Just two more. On the sixth of June 2012, when you were fifteen, England was celebrating the sixtieth year of Queen Elizabeth II on the throne. During that time, Vera and her husband spent two weeks in a castle in Scotland with the Duke of McTarvit. Your father took some excellent photos.” Griff held out his phone to show a picture of Mike on a horse, riding beside the duke’s second son. “Can you ride as well as you shoot a bow?”

“Give me one now and I’ll show you.” Her arms were folded across her chest.