The LED bulb I’d bought at the grocery store was worth the six dollars. The bear looked less intimidating, his outstretched paws threatening not so much to tear us from limb to limb, but maybe just to pat us on the head. Not that right then I cared about the bear.

“My grandmother? Please.”

“She wouldn’t talk to me about that night. I thought she might have told you. She loved you more than anyone.”

“Told me about what?”

He weighed his words. “You understand, I was only there for the aftermath.”

“Then could you just tell me the part you know?” And fast. His grandson would be looking for us any second. “Please.”

Finally, laboriously, Bram Sr. answered. “I went to law school with one of the Vanderbilt nephews. I almost didn’t go to that party. Thought it was a pity invite. I came from a modest background, you see.” He leaned heavily on his cane. “Then again, who isn’t modest compared to the Vanderbilts? Have you seen the building?”

“I think so.” I had a vague picture of it in my head. “Seventy-third Street?”

“Seventy-second. A block from Central Park. Which always bothered the hell out of Vanderbilt. The Carnegie Mansion is not only right on the park, but it overlooks the water. Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. They called it the Central Park Reservoir back then.”

“And the party?”

“I’d only just arrived. I was climbing the curving staircase, champagne flute in hand. I hadn’t even taken the first sip.” He paused as if what he was about to say hurt him, or he was worried it would hurt me. “The most beautiful woman I’d ever met flew out of the library. One moment, she was full of motion, then she stopped as if she’d lost her way, as if she didn’t know where she was, which way to go next. The first and only time I saw Violet lose her wits.”

“What happened?”

“I dashed up the stairs and asked if I could help. She shied back. And every instinct I had said she was the type of woman who never shied from anything. She asked if I could get her out of there. I set my champagne glass on the floor, on the spot, and offered her my arm, asked her if she needed to gather her wrap. She cast a panicked glance at the closed library door, then fled down the stairs.”

“Did she say why she was upset?”

“Just gave me her address. I escorted her home in a cab and offered to stay, but she sent me off. I went straight back to the party, burst into the library, ready to kill the man who’d hurt her.”

“Why did you think she was hurt?”

“Her dress was disheveled.” Bram Sr.’s voice dropped. “I thought I saw blood on the hem.”