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Odelia would have mentioned she was also Dan’s only reporter, but the moment didn’t seem to lend itself to levity. Instead, she shook the young woman’s hand and took a seat. “Such a strange coincidence. I was just talking about your dad with my mother.”

“Marge Poole. She works at the library, doesn’t she? She’s nice. Very sweet and kind.”

“She is,” Odelia confirmed.

“Alicia is Jock and Grace Farnsworth’s daughter,” said Dan. “Her mother has gone missing, and I want you to drop everything and help find her, Odelia. I don’t care what you’re working on—this is now your number one priority, you understand?”

Odelia didn’t understand a thing. “But if your mother has disappeared, shouldn’t you go to the police? They’re more equipped to deal with missing persons cases than I am.”

“I can’t go to the police. My father would kill me. He’s probably going to be extremely upset that I came here to talk to Uncle Dan, but I simply can’t stand it anymore.”

“Your father doesn’t want to involve the police? But why?”

“He thinks Mama didn’t disappear. He thinks she ran away… with her boyfriend.”

“Your mother has a boyfriend?”

Alicia nodded.“He’s an artist,” she said, as if that explained everything.

“And… you don’t believe they ran away together?”

“Mama would never leave without telling me. We’re very close—we’re more best friends than mother and daughter. She wouldn’t simply up and leave and not let me know. She simply wouldn’t.”

She’d pressed a tissue to her nose while tears still rolled across her cheeks.

“Look, it’s not because your father doesn’t want to involve the police that you can’t,” said Odelia. “She’s your mother, and if you have reason to believe her disappearance is troubling, you should tell my uncle. If you want I’ll come with you. Chief Alec is a very nice man and verycapable. He’ll find your mother.”

“My father would never speak to me again. He thinks it’s bad enough the servants know, and now to involve the police…” She shook her head. “No way. Besides, what if he’s right? What if Mama simply ran away with her lover? The police aren’t going to be able to bring her back. She’s agrown woman. She’ll simply refuse to come with them.”

“See what I mean?” said Dan, who was clearly worried about his godchild. “You have to find Grace, Odelia. And if you’re worried about expenses, don’t be. I’ll pay you out of my own pocket to find her.”

“And I’ll pay you the rest,” said Alicia. “I just want to know what happened to her. If she did run away, that’s her business. I just want to know, so that I can stop worrying.”

“Do you know the name of this artist boyfriend?” asked Odelia, taking out her notebook and pencil.

“His name is Fabio Shakespeare. He’s a painter and he lives in a small cottage on our domain. Papa wanted to kick him out when he first started suspecting he was having an affair with Mama, but Mama convinced him not to. My parents have been living separate lives for years. They live in different wings of the house, so it’s not as if Mama was really doing anything wrong when she got involved with Fabio.”

“What do you know about this Fabio?”

“Oh, he’s wonderful. A real genius. You should see his paintings. He painted my portrait, too, and it’s the most amazing thing.”

She clearly seemed taken with this painter, Odelia thought.“So you didn’t mind that your mother was having an affair with him?”

“No, I was happy for her. Very happy. Papa is… a difficult man to live with. Even I find him hard to tolerate. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love my father, but he’s very tough and demanding—not sweet and loving, like Fabio, and definitely not a romantic.”

Odelia nodded.“Do you think your dad will mind if I ask him a couple of questions and snoop around?”

“No, I think it’s fine, as long as you promise not to tell anyone.”

“Be discreet,” said Dan. “Be very discreet, Odelia. And Alicia, tell your dad I’m not going to print anything about this. This is not newspaper business to me—this is personal.”

“Oh, thank you so much, Uncle Dan,” said Alicia, as she rounded the desk and gave her godfather a big hug. “I won’t forget this.”

“It’s the least I can do for my precious goddaughter,” said Dan warmly.

“So when did your mother disappear, exactly?” asked Odelia.

“Um… the last time I saw her was the day before yesterday. At breakfast. We were supposed to head into town that afternoon to do some shopping, but she never showed up. And then the next day when I checked her room I saw that her bed hadn’t been slept in. I decided to tell Papa, who hadn’t even noticed Mama had gone missing, and he told me to wait another day, just to be sure. And so this morning, when I told him Mama was still nowhere to be found, he told me in no uncertain terms I shouldn’t get the police involved, and that Mama had probably eloped with Fabio.”

“Did you check to see if Fabio is gone, too?”

“I did. Immediately. And he’s gone. Packed his bags and disappeared.”

“So that would suggest your father is right.”