Chapter 1 - The Chain in the Sun.
Evelyn Carter knew something was wrong before she reached the front steps.
The birthday balloons tied to Margaret Hale's porch rail moved lazily in the warm afternoon breeze, but no children were laughing outside.
Then Evelyn saw Lily.
Her six-year-old daughter stood beside a black porch pillar with tears dried in silver lines across her cheeks.
A thick steel chain circled the child's waist over her daisy-print dress.
A brass padlock held the chain to the pillar.
For one stunned second, Evelyn could not breathe.
Then her grey tote bag slipped from her shoulder and hit the walkway.
"Mommy!"
Lily's voice cracked so badly that Evelyn felt something inside her break with it.
She ran.
"Why are you out here by yourself?"
Evelyn dropped to her knees, tugging at the lock as if panic alone could open it.
Lily hiccupped through another sob.
"Grandma said I wasn't allowed inside."
Behind the sliding glass doors, Evelyn could see a children's party in full swing.
There were cupcakes, wrapped gifts, music, and half a dozen children chasing one another beneath a ceiling of balloons.
No one seemed to be looking outside.
No one seemed to care that Lily was chained ten feet away.
Evelyn turned when the glass door slid open.
Margaret stepped onto the patio in a cream tailored pantsuit, perfectly composed, holding a napkin between two manicured fingers.
She looked at Evelyn as though the scene were mildly inconvenient.
"This party is not for cheater's kids."
Evelyn stared at her.
The words made no sense at first.
Then they made too much sense.
For months, Margaret had been making little comments about Lily's brown eyes, her narrow chin, and the fact that she did not resemble Daniel as strongly as Margaret thought she should.
Evelyn had dismissed it as cruelty wrapped in family humor.
Now the cruelty was wearing a padlock.
"Say that again."
Margaret lifted her chin.
"You heard me."
Evelyn rose so quickly that Lily flinched.
She crossed the patio in three steps and slapped Margaret across the face.
The older woman lost her balance, struck the edge of a lounge chair, and fell hard onto the concrete.
The music inside stopped.
Every face behind the glass turned toward them.
Evelyn reached into her tote bag and pulled out the papers she had planned to give Daniel privately after the party.
She threw them onto Margaret's chest.
"Margaret, repeat what you just said to my daughter."
Margaret looked down.
The top page was a laboratory report.
PATERNITY PROBABILITY: 99.9998%.
For the first time that afternoon, Margaret looked afraid.
Then a man's voice came from inside the house.
"Evelyn, what did you do?"
Daniel stood behind the glass, staring at his mother on the ground.
He did not look at the chain around Lily.
He did not look at his crying daughter.
May you like
He looked only at Margaret.
And Evelyn suddenly understood that the worst person on the patio might not be the woman lying at her feet.
