Chapter 2 - Ruby Had Seen Them Digging After Midnight
Alessio did not start digging.
That was his first good decision after several bad ones.
His daughter was muddy, frightened, and had just been struck by an adult.
Whatever was beneath the earth could wait until authorities documented the scene.
Ruby could not.
He took her inside, cleaned the mud from her arms and face, and had the family physician examine her.
No serious injury.
Her cheek was red.
Her dignity had taken the harder blow.
While Alessio knelt in front of her, Ruby asked:
“Are they going to kill Mommy’s flowers?”
“No.”
“You promise?”
“I promise I’m going to find out what happened.”
Ruby looked toward the greenhouse through the window.
“I saw them there.”
Alessio went still.
“Who?”
“Mr. Marco and Mrs. Claudia.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
Ruby had woken because she wanted water.
Her bedroom overlooked part of the memorial garden.
She saw two flashlight beams moving beside the greenhouse sometime after midnight.
At first she assumed gardeners were working.
Then she recognized Marco’s blue utility jacket.
Claudia was holding a shovel.
“They were digging?”
Ruby nodded.
“And Evelyn?”
“She was there too.”
That explained the older girl’s sudden retreat after Ruby’s question.
“What were they doing?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“Did you hear anything?”
Ruby thought carefully.
“Mrs. Claudia said, ‘We have to move it before Alessio fixes the garden.’”
Alessio felt something cold move through him.
He had indeed scheduled restoration work.
The memorial beds had been deteriorating for months.
A landscape architect was due the following Monday to begin soil replacement near the greenhouse.
The same patch Claudia and Marco had apparently dug up overnight.
This had nothing to do with two children fighting over a flower.
May you like
The fight had merely exposed something already underway.
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