Page 58 of The Unraveling of Julia

“Ms. Pritzker!” Marshal Torti snapped. “You maynottake that evidence. It is police property.”

“Don’t worry, I left you some.” Julia was finished playing nice.

The hair tingled its assent.

After thecarabinierihad gone, Julia stepped outside into the ruined garden to call Courtney. “Got a minute?” she asked, when Courtney picked up.

“Yes, what? I’ve been worried.”

Julia sat down on the old cane chair and told her the whole story, from Caterina to the tingly hair. When she finished, Courtney went so silent Julia thought the call had dropped. “Court, you there?”

“You think you saw ablue ghost?”

“I saw Caterina.” Julia thought Courtney would believe her because she had proof positive. “You can’t doubt this because sheshowed methe tunnel. I wouldn’t have found it any other way. Isawher and I felt her presence.”

“Honey, no,yousaw the crack, not the ghost. You were looking at the wall and the light from the fireplace.”

“I swear, Caterina showed it to me. She was pure blue light, tall and shaped like a woman.”

“The same blue light that threw your laptop at a wall? Now it’s a woman, showing you around? Jules, there’s no such thing as ghosts. Do I really need to say this?”

“I’m telling you she’s tried to contact me, to help me, tell me about my family, the villa, maybe my own past. Anna Mattia doesn’t doubt me, neither does Piero.”

“I don’t even know these people, and neither do you.” Courtney groaned. “You told me before the blue light was trying to kill you. Now she’s your bestie? Which is it?”

“I know, I was wrong.” Julia struggled to put it together. “Now I think she was trying to tell me something. Maybe she was trying to tell me to get off the laptop and get out of her bedroom. The dining room, too.” Julia realizedthatcould be the answer. “That’s it! She wanted me in theliving room. She wanted me to find thetunnel! Sheshowedme where the door in the wall used to—”

“There’s noshe!Sheisyou!”

Julia bore down. “Listen, Caterina’s husband was murdered, too, stabbed to death. She loved astrology and books, too. We have so much in common, and my life tracks—”

“So? That doesn’t mean anything.”

“That doesn’t strike you as strange? Weird?Toocoincidental? I feel like she’s here for me, Ifeelher, maybe Isummonedher.” Julia heard hervoice speeding up, her excitement gathering in strength. “Plus I got my DNA results and my ancestry is from Tuscany and Milan, do you believe that? I’m Italian American, by blood. It makes it more likely I’m related to Rossi and her—”

“No, it doesn’t, not logically—”

“—and I found hair on a comb and I’m going to get it tested and see if it’s a match, like we talked about before.”

“Okay, good, at least that makes sense.”

“Itallmakes sense, not just the scientific part, I’m telling you, when I went to Caterina’s castle, I knew my way around.”

“You had déjà vu.”

“Something’s happening here, Court.” Julia was thinking aloud, her brain afire. “I know this is all connected. Me, Rossi, and Caterina.”

“You don’t know that, and these are three separate issues. You could be related to Rossi but certainly not Caterina. That villa is driving you crazy!”

“No, it’s not. The villa is giving up its secrets.” Julia realized she was right as soon as she said it. “They could be my family’s secrets and they could lead to myfamily.”

“Oh sweet Jesus—”

“I’ll tell you what scaresme.” Julia’s heart lodged in her throat. “I’m afraid Rossi is my biological grandmother and the girl in the cell was my biological mother. I’m afraid Rossi was a monster, maybe even a murderer.”

“Murder?” Courtney scoffed. “Girl, you’re losing it. What’s next, skeletons? ‘We’re Marley and Marley, whoooo’?”

Skeletons.Julia’s bewildered gaze traveled to the vineyard, where Piero was digging, next to Anna Mattia and Bianco.

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