Chapter 1

"Thief," Gina Sabatini said, grabbing Dani's coat.

Two hundred wedding guests turned from their champagne.

Dani's navy work vest showed beneath worn camel wool.

One brass button hung by a thread.

Gina wore dove-gray silk, pearls, and office keys.

Her wedding ring pressed through the coat.

"Eleven dollars," Gina said.

"That's all you came in with, right?"

Dani nodded.

She had counted it before her shift.

Enough for the bus and something warm.

"And now you're wearing gold."

Dani's St. Anthony medallion rested over her vest.

"My mother gave me that."

A man laughed near the bar.

Dani looked toward the sound.

He lowered his glass without looking away.

Gina yanked her collar.

The shoulder seam split.

Dani caught the torn edge.

It was her mother's coat.

The lining had already been patched twice.

Neither patch had given way.

This was a new hole.

Dot, the old coat-room manager, cupped Dani's elbow.

"Don't you move," she whispered.

Her fingers were warm through the wool.

Gina dragged Dani to the lockers behind the counter.

Dot stayed beside them.

Guests crowded the doorway.

Someone's pearl purse knocked against a brass hook.

"Unlock yours."

Dani turned her key with shaking fingers.

The lock caught.

She tried again.

Gina pulled the door open.

A second gold medallion lay on the shelf.

Nothing else sat beside it.

Dani's lunch bag was on the bottom.

Gina lifted it by its chain.

"Sal's heirloom."

"From his office safe."

The chain swung above Dani's open locker.

"I locked that office myself after the ceremony started."

Dani stared at the empty shelf.

"I never touched it."

"Then how did it get in your locker?"

Dani looked at Dot.

Dot's mouth tightened.

Gina caught her coat again.

"Call the police."

A waiter hurried toward the front desk.

His shoes squeaked on the marble.

Dani pressed her lips together.

Gina pulled her toward the wedding floor.

White tablecloths filled the space ahead.

Beyond them, faces turned and waited.

"I didn't steal that medallion."

Then a voice stopped them.

"Let her go."

Sal Sabatini crossed from the stairs.

Conversation stopped near the landing.

Gina released the torn collar.

Dani took one short breath.

Sal took the loose medallion from her hand.

His eyes dropped to the one Dani wore.

"Who gave you that?"

"My mother."

He brought his open palm beneath her pendant.

Dani leaned toward him, letting the chain go slack.

He lifted her pendant beside the recovered one.

Same gold.

Same saint.

He turned them over.

"V.S.," he said.

"My father's."

Then his thumb stopped beside the other engraving.

"F.M."

"Frank Marchetti's."

Gina's keys clicked against her wrist.

"Who was your mother?"

Dani lifted her chin.

Her mother's old warning had lasted twelve years.

Never say Marchetti in Chicago.

"Renata."

Her voice caught.

"Renata Marchetti."

Sal stared at the two medallions.

His hand began to shake.

Dani stayed bent toward his palm.

Behind her, Dot stopped rubbing her elbow.

"Two keys open that safe," he said.

"Mine, and the one I gave my wife."

He looked up.

Across the silent room, for the first time all night, Gina Sabatini would not meet his eyes.