“We don’t have it,” I said again. “I never heard of it before today. That’s why I’m sure it’s gone. Leland never could hang on to anything of value. He was always selling things to pay off his gambling debts. Besides, we would have found it by now, don’t you think?”

“Probably. But damn. I would have given anything to taste two-hundred-year-old Madeira. Not to mention how much money those cases would be worth.”

“Two hundred and ten years. Even if we found the wine, Clayton’s not going to buy it. The deal’s off,” I said. “Prescott told me Leland had a safe-deposit box at Blue Ridge Federal. He thought maybe he might have left a clue there about where he hid the Madeira.”

Quinn’s eyebrows went up. “You cleaned out his safe-deposit box after he died. There wasn’t much in it, as I recall.”

I drank the last of my Riesling. “Prescott hinted there was a second safe-deposit box. Where Leland kept … private stuff. Things he didn’t want my mother knowing about.”

Maybe there had been more affairs and more children we weren’t aware of. Maybe Leland had robbed a bank and stashed the cash there. With my father you never knew.

“If there was another safe-deposit box,” Quinn said, “you would have known about it by now. Somebody would have said something at the bank, don’t you think? Seth Hannah is one of the Romeos and he’s practically an uncle to you, Eli, and Mia. It’s a neighborhood bank and you know everyone there.”

Seth Hannah was the president of Blue Ridge Federal and Quinn was probably right. We would have known about a second safe-deposit box by now. Seth would have told us.

Quinn got up and pulled me to my feet. “The fire’s out. Why don’t you go upstairs and get ready for bed? You’ve had a hell of a day. I’ll clean up here and join you in a few minutes.”

He caressed my face with the back of his hand. “Let’s try to forget about all this, sweetheart. At least for tonight. Okay?”

I nodded.

But later that night I awoke, bolting upright in bed, my heart pounding hard against my rib cage. Downstairs the grandfather clock’s rich chime sounded three times as Prescott’s last words came back to me. He’d said he was on the verge of uncovering a four-hundred-year-old secret that powerful people didn’t want known and my father had provided an important clue that had led Prescott to his discovery.

And for his safety—as well as mine—I couldn’t tell anyone about our conversation. Because whatever this mysterious secret was, anyone who knew about it was in danger.

Now I guess that included me.

Seven