Hidden Devotion (Trinity Masters #5)(51)
“If you’re in Boston for the party, be sure to say high to the Hancocks for me.”
“I will. I’ll call you afterwards.” Devon put enough emphasis on the words to convey that there would be something worth talking about.
“Oh? I look forward to it.”
He hung up.
“Were you speaking in code?” Franco asked.
“Old habits die hard. Jessica Breton.”
“We’re going to have to go to the office to check the files.”
They were gathering up their things when Devon’s phone rang. The display read “Parents-Private”. Someone was calling him from the secure line.
“Dad?” he answered.
“No, it’s Mom.”
“Hi, Mom. Everything okay?”
“Your father told me you called. You were asking about Jessica Breton.”
“Yes, do you know who her trinity was?”
“No, but be careful.”
Devon sank to the edge of the bed. “Why?”
“There were rumors about Jessica. I remember hearing your grandmas talking about it.” Devon’s mother was a legacy also, her maiden name Butler.
“What were the rumors?”
“That she was a purist.”
“A what?”
“A purist. In the early part of the war, there were rumors that some members were Nazi sympathizers. They were upset by the integration and social-justice initiatives the trinities were focused on.”
“What do you mean?”
“In the nineteen thirties, a lot of members were recruited to help address issues around poverty, education and workers’ rights. There were rumors that some legacy members weren’t okay with that. They didn’t like the focus, didn’t like that these new members weren’t from wealthy white backgrounds.”
“And they were called purists?”
“Yes. But it was just rumors. I don’t know how much that’s worth.”
“You might have just solved the mystery. Thanks, Mom.”
When Devon hung up, Franco looked at him expectantly. “What was that?”
“My mother says the delivery woman may have been part of a racist subset of members who were active in the thirties and forties.”
“The kind of people who wouldn’t want my grandfather in their white-only club.”
“Exactly.”
“So Jessica sabotaged my grandfather by lying to him when she gave him the box. She told him not to open it when he was supposed to do the exact opposite.”
“I think so.” Devon shook his head in disgust.
“Then why the poison?”
“Backup plan? In case he did open it?”
“That makes sense. And when Grandfather never turned up with the answer, the Grand Master just forgot about him.”
“No one should be forgotten.” Devon checked his watch and cursed. “Juliette found poison meant for your family, to keep them from continuing as members. That answers one mystery, but raises more questions.” Devon grabbed the garment bags off the bed.
“What questions?”
Devon pushed Franco out the door. They couldn’t be late. Not tonight. “If these purists were close enough to the Grand Master to be trusted as messengers, how many other people did they either sabotage or outright kill?”
“I’ll add it to the list of mysteries.”
Devon laughed, pulling Franco against him and kissing his cheek. “You’re so weird.”
“Aw, you know you love it, Dev.”
“Don’t call me Dev.”
“Why not, Dev?”
They were still bickering by the time they picked up Juliette, who’d gone to get ready at the townhouse. She laughed at their antics all the way to the library. When they parked, the amusement left her face.
The solemn trio made their way to the headquarters. It was time.
*****
The whispers started the moment she entered. The altar room and large foyer hallway were filled with people. Some wore the concealing gray robes of the Trinity Masters while others were in tuxedos and evening dresses. The Winter Gala always coincided with the library’s black-tie fundraiser. Members would mingle at the fundraiser before slipping away and taking the hidden elevator to the real party.
Though there were hundreds of members, only a hundred or so attended these gatherings. Usually each trinity was able to send at least one person, and those who hadn’t been called to the altar—the younger members—often came to revel in the still-novel aspects of the secret meetings.
There were no caterers, but silver tubs of ice held bottles of Champagne that was sipped out of realistic-looking plastic flutes.
Juliette wore the black robe and gold chain of the Grant Master. It rendered her anonymous, but she was shorter and slighter than her brother. The height difference was emphasized by the two men who walked behind and slightly to each side of her. Franco wore a gray robe with the hood down. Devon wore a tuxedo. He nodded to members he knew as they passed.
A ripple went through the room as people realized that the person in the Grand Master’s robe was new. Plus, Devon’s presence at the Grand Master’s side wouldn’t go unnoticed. Though the identity of the Grand Master’s council was secret, at events like this, it was fairly obvious who was close to the Grand Master, especially if that person chose not to go robed. Price Bennett, one of Harrison’s former advisors, was well-known among the members, and it had always been clear that he was one of the councilors.