We got into my car in silence.

Ethan stared out the passenger window as the windshield wipers swept back and forth.

“Where are we going?” he asked after a few blocks.

“The estate,” I said. “Mother is going to have seen the news by now.”

“She’ll be furious,” Ethan said.

“I know.”

“She won’t care about the soldiers who died, Grace. She’ll only care about the guest list for the wedding.”

“I know,” I said again.

The drive to the suburbs took forty minutes.

The rain grew heavier, blurring the green lawns of the large houses.

We turned down the long driveway of the Mercer estate.

My mother’s silver sedan was parked near the front entrance.

When we walked through the front door, the house was silent except for the ticking of the grandfather clock in the foyer.

Mrs. Mercer was sitting in the formal parlor.

She was holding a cup of tea, but she wasn’t drinking it.

The television on the sideboard was tuned to a cable news network.

A scroll across the bottom of the screen read: *Pentagon Halts $400 Million Defense Contract Amid Cover-Up Allegations.*