"To my Netta, who always finds what's hidden. Keep this. It will bring you home."
It was a promise.
Mr. Ellerby’s hands shook as he poured her a tea. "My parents weren't good people, Miss Jade. They took in children for the money. Netta... she was different. She saw things. Found things. She told my mother that the house had secrets. My mother laughed. But then Netta found my father's hidden lockbox. The one with the stolen goods." netta jade
She showed the brooch to Mr. Ellerby, who went pale. "That's the Ashford brooch," he whispered. "Been missing since 1987. Belonged to a girl who lived here. A girl named... Netta. Netta Ashford. She was a foster child. Disappeared one night. They never found her." "To my Netta, who always finds what's hidden
On the train south, she looked out the window at the grey North Sea. She was still Netta Jade. But the Jade part no longer felt like a rock she was hiding behind. It felt like a stone skipped across water—still moving, but finally, finally touching down. They took in children for the money