Page 49 of Afraid to Hope

“You’re right of course. This only looks bad,” Natasha conceded, and in the act of returning the globe to its spot, something dropped from its base and onto the desktop.

Chapter 24

Bane reached around Natasha to inspect the heavy stock paper. “What’s this?”

He grabbed his flashlight from his hip pocket and swept the beam over its white surface, which was trimmed to fit within the globe’s base. The edges appeared as though they had been deliberately cut and fashioned so the paper could be attached snugly. Yellowed crust covered each of the dog-eared tabs, evidence of adhesive. Dark brown felt, close in color to the wood base, was affixed to the other side.

Bane examined the camouflaged cover more closely. “There’s writing. “It’s difficult to read because it’s so small. Maybe French. TA11. No, wait. I think it’s a seven. TA17. What—”

“No. It can’t be.” Natasha gulped, reaching to take the paper from Bane. Her brow creased as her eyes studied the tiny blue cursive. “Those are my initials and my lucky number. The writing is Mémé’s. I’m sure of it!” Her fingers traced over the writing endearingly. Her voice dropped into a shaky whisper. “I don’t understand.”

“Nat, flip over the globe.” He directed the beam at the base and pulled out a second folded piece of paper with his thumb and forefinger. He opened it before passing it to her. “It’s addressed to Darling Heart.”

Natasha glanced at the note. “What in holy hell? I can’t. Not here.” She tore out of the office.

What the fuck?Stay here or go out after her?

The french door banged shut. Natasha was in the garden. Bane stood and rubbed his hands over his face.Fuck. What a can of worms.He stalked to the kitchen and paused, hand grasping the handle, observing Natasha seated at the table under shade of the pergola, the unfolded note in front of her. She read it quickly, fingering the note, staring straight ahead at the vine-covered garden wall. He pushed the lever down and stepped out. Natasha gave no indication that she had heard the door open or that he approached. Bane knelt next to her. Still no response.

“Hey,” he said. “Care to share?”

She exhaled forcefully through tight lips. Her glassy eyes searched his as she handed him the note.

Mon cœur chéri, je crois qu’Henri s’était impliqué en secret dans une sombre histoire. Je te laisse ceci dans l’espoir de découvrir de quoi il s’agissait. Cela fait longtemps que je crois que ce qui s’est passé à Asilah avait un rapport avec son implication. Je me suis heurtée à un échec en cherchant la réponse. Le temps n’a pas joué en ma faveur. Souviens-toi de nos moments préférés: nos jeux et puzzles, nos chasses au trésor, l’entretien de nos jardins, nos créations en cuisine, nos chasses aux scorpions la nuit… Il faut explorer, ma douce. Un indice en mène à un autre, et ainsi de suite. Garde Fatima avec toi pour toujours. Elle te portera chance et te protègera. À tes côtés pour toujours, Josette TA17JBA7

Bane pulled the chair behind him against Natasha’s and sat. He draped his arm loosely around her shoulders and scanned the note. “What does this mean?”

She continued to stare straight ahead. “It is from my grandmother to me. Her name was Josette. TheBis for Blanchett, Mémé’s maiden name, and theAfor her married name, Allamel. She called me Tasha. My middle name is Anne. That’s why my initials are TA instead of NA. Her endearment for me was darling heart. It seems Mémé is the one who hid the note in the globe’s base. It’s full of clues.” Without looking at him, she translated it out loud.

“My darling heart, I believe that Henri had secretly been involved in a dark story. I leave this to you in the hope of finding out what it was all about. I have believed for a long time that what happened in Asilah has something to do with his involvement. I ran into a failure in looking for the answer. Time did not work in my favor. Remember our favorite moments: our games and puzzles, our treasure hunts, the maintenance of our gardens, our creations in the kitchen, our scorpion hunts at night… We have to explore, darling heart. One clue leads to another and so on. Keep Fatima with you forever. She’ll bring you luck and protect you. By your side forever, Josette TA17JBA7”

“Hey, I’m fluent in French. Remember? I caught all that.” He gently ran his finger down her cheek, encouraging her to look at him.

Natasha’s lovely arched brows moved as she fought to bring her emotions under control, her beautiful, expressive eyes changing from turbulent clouds to charcoal gray.

“What I need is for you to tell me what it means, or what you think it means.”

“Sorry. The references to the favorite moments are clues, as is the mention of Fatima and our initials followed by our lucky numbers.”

“Why lucky numbers?”

“Don’t you have one?”

“Um, not anymore. Gave it up during my teens. But I know a lot of people who do. What do you believe this signifies?” Bane asked, pointing at the initials and numbers.

There was so much she didn’t know about him and so much he didn’t know about her. Would they have the gift of time? “They refer to notes in the books we read together.”

“Still confused. I’m trying to follow along here.” Bane ran a hand over his neck. “Seems like there is an overabundance of information scattered about. We could end up turning the entireriadand the gardens inside out looking for whatever it was your grandmother left. I mean, scorpions, gardening, games, puzzles…? Can you clarify for me?”

Leaning forward and resting her elbows on her thighs, her jaw supported in fisted palms, Natasha squinted as she spoke, focusing on something invisible. “I think my grandmother was trying to find out what Pépé might have been involved in, but she died before she got to the bottom of it. She buried the clues of how far she got in her list of our favorite moments. I believe Mémé referenced them to throw off anyone other than me. The treasure hunts were my absolute favorite because they weren’t as frequent, maybe once a summer. I loved deciphering the riddles. Her reference to treasure hunts is itself a riddle.” Natasha lifted her head and faced Bane with a resolute expression. “My grandmother is sending me on a treasure hunt with the clues she collected, and you’re going to join me. We need to look in the gardening books and cookbooks, on pages three and seventeen, or possibly on a combination of our numbers, 317 and 173, if the book has that many pages. We used those as well if we ran out of room on pages three and seventeen. Mémé and I wrote in the margins, and we always dated them. A lot of them were to each other. There should be clues, dated closer to her death, and hopefully those will lead us to others.” She took a deep breath, then added, “I’m sure I’m correct.”

“Interesting. And what about the reference to the Fatima?”

“Simple. Fatima was important to us. We often prayed to her together.” Her finger brushed over the tattoo on her wrist. “Door knocker.” Natasha stood and refolded the note before sliding it into the pocket of her skirt. “Come on.”

“Where’re we going?” Bane asked as he followed.

“To the kitchen. We probably need a screwdriver.” Hammering reverberated into the office as soon as they entered.

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