Annabelle clutched the letter to her chest as relief cascaded through her. It wasn’t Gray. It wasn’t Gray! Elaine sat on the couch beside her, or else Annabelle would have leapt into the air and shrieked with joy. All she could do was stare out the apartment window, amazed that the entire course of her life had shifted during the sixty seconds it took to read this letter.

“What does your letter say?” Elaine asked, her knitting needles clicking in a predictable rhythm.

Annabelle couldn’t tell her. Normally she told Elaine exactly what had arrived in the post, but when she’d spotted Gray’s return address on the envelope, she had simply said it was a letter without adding details.

“Gray reports he has gone to Cuba on business,” she said, her voice still trembling in relief.

“That’s all?” Elaine asked. “You seem quite taken with the news of a business trip. You’re breathing so fast, it sounds like you’ve just sprinted up five flights of stairs.”

Annabelle fanned herself with the letter. She couldn’t tell Elaine about the elation still ricocheting through her at the news that Gray wasn’t a traitor and wasn’t destined for a hangman’s noose.

But his brother might be. Somehow the fact that Gray and Luke lived under the same roof was the cause of the confusion. Between the two men, it was easy to assume that Gray, with his outspoken hostility toward the government, was the disloyal one. Luke projected an air of carefree charm that was completely at odds with international intrigue.

Maybe it was deliberate. The best spies were surely the people nobody suspected.

“I’d better get dinner ready,” Annabelle said.

Ever since being asked to spy on Gray, the spices he’d given her had sat gathering dust. She had been too heartsick to use them, but tonight she would experiment. Their cheap cut of mutton would be much livelier with a hefty dose of fragrant paprika. She lit the stove, then poured a little of the aromatic spice onto a plate along with flour, salt, and pepper.

It didn’t take long for the elation of Gray’s letter to fade as other worries crowded her mind. Gray must never learn of her role in exposing his brother. He claimed to be horrified at what Luke had done, and she believed him, but that didn’t mean he would ever forgive her if he learned she was responsible for his arrest.

It was Luke who had committed the crime, not her. Maybe there was no need for her to tell Gray anything.

Her hand shook as she dragged the mutton chops through the flour and paprika. She had to calm herself. This wasn’t her fault, she had done what any loyal American would do. But she still trembled as she laid the meat in the skillet. Carrying a secret like this would be hard.