Hidden Devotion (Trinity Masters #5)(20)

“Francisco, you were going to tell me about your grandfather’s crazy stories.” Juliette slipped her arm through his, turning him towards the gallery they’d been in.

“That’s what you want to hear?”

“Absolutely.”

“Juliette.” Devon’s voice was tight. He’d followed them in, but stopped in front of a display in the foyer that detailed the Garcia family legacy.

The poster featured one of the annoying posed headshots the PR person had insisted they get and which Franco hated. This was the one of him in a suit with his arms folded, trying to look like a pillar of the community.

“I know, Devon.” Juliette didn’t turn around or break stride, tugging Franco’s arm to keep him moving.

“I’m sorry, but what is going on? Why are you both here?” Franco’s tolerance for weirdness had just been met. This whole day was too strange—first Juliette, then the photos, and now this guy Devon.

“Francisco, tell me about your grandfather.”

Franco freed his arm and turned to confront Juliette. “Why don’t you tell me why you have those photos of my great-grandfather?”

Devon stood just behind and to the side of Juliette, like a bodyguard. She didn’t respond.

Franco was a lot of things, but a man of infinite patience and tact was not one of them. “The two of you need to leave.”

“Francisco, I just want to talk to you.” Juliette continued to smile softly.

“You can come back tomorrow when the museum is open and speak with the director.”

“But I want to talk to you.”

“Why don’t you tell me why you’re really here? Clearly you’re looking for something.” It was a hunch, but the way Juliette’s lips tightened said he was right.

Finally she motioned to a picture of Luis—Francisco’s grandfather—standing arm in arm with his best friend Henry. “Tell me more about them.”

“The Smiths?”

“Yes.”

Franco knew he should ignore the question and make them leave, but there was a mystery here, a mystery he wanted to solve. Who was Juliette and where had she gotten those pictures? Why did she have them? How was her family connected to his? Why had this Devon guy shown up?

Maybe he’d get some answers if he gave some. “Henry Smith and his mother Lucille were close family friends. Lucille was particularly close with Maria, Luis’s mother—my great-grandmother. Their patronage had helped the Garcia empire get off the ground. Luis had been studying to be a priest, but when Henry died in World War Two, he dropped out of the seminary and joined the army.”

“Isn’t your father’s name Henry?” Juliette asked.

“Yes, he was named after Henry Smith, a tribute to my grandfather’s best friend.”

“Is that one of the crazy stories?”

Franco shook his head. “Hardly. How about this—I’ll tell you one of my grandfather’s craziest stories, if you tell me how you got those pictures.”

“It’s a deal.”

Juliette smiled, completely ignoring Devon as he leaned forward and asked, “What pictures?”

“When I was a teenager, Grandfather took me aside and said that there was a great family secret—that the Garcia’s had been selected to be members of a secret society that guarded America.” Franco smiled as he remembered his grandfather’s voice, the way he spoke with such sincerity. “He said that he’d even visited the headquarters of the society, been inducted in a secret ceremony, and then entrusted with a box and told to hide it here in Florida where no one would think to look.”

“A secret society?” Juliette laughed lightly. “That is a bit crazy, but hardly the most absurd thing.”

Franco wasn’t listening to her. He was looking at Devon. There’d been a moment when the man’s face had registered shock before his expression went blank and he placed his right hand on Juliette’s shoulder.

The position gave Franco the perfect view of the ring he wore.

A ring that was the perfect match to one Franco’s grandfather had worn until the day he died. A ring Luis had sworn was a symbol of his membership in the secret society.

Franco’s heart started to pound. Maybe it wasn’t the same ring. The weird situation he now found himself in was making him think impossible things, and see things that weren’t there.

He shifted his attention to Juliette—and her necklace caught his eye.

The same symbol that adorned Devon’s ring, and his grandfather’s ring, was dead center on Juliette’s necklace.

“Francisco, are you okay?”

“My…my grandfather told me that someday the secret society would contact our family again, that they’d need their secret back.”

“Their secret—you mean this box you mentioned?” Devon asked. At the same time Juliette said, “How would they contact you?”

Franco took a step forward, trying—but probably failing—to subtly get a better look at the ring. Devon dropped his hand. Definite fail on subtlety.

“Grandfather said that members of the secret society always wore a symbol. A triquetra.”

Juliette inhaled slowly then let out the air. “The name, Francisco. What is the name?”