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years they had been there for each other, dropping whatever they were doing to fly to the rescue of the one in need. How could Kelly turn her back on her friend now, in the worst moment of her life?

" Kel ?"
    Kelly felt a tug in her chest and nodded. "Yes, of course, I'll ... do what I can."
    "Thank you."
Victoria
smiled, a sad, tentative smile that was filled with uncertainty. Then, rising again, she walked over to the phone. "I have to call my aunt and uncle and tell them what happened before they hear it from the police, or worse, from the newspapers."
    Four.
    Ward and Cecily Sanders arrived twenty minutes later, looking as elegant in their casual clothes as if they had come from one of the many social functions they attended throughout the year.
    A reporter had once dubbed them
Philadelphia
's charmed couple, a label they wore with grace. Cecily's blond, sophisticated looks were the perfect foil for Ward's tall stature and patrician features. Both were successful in their own right. As CEO and president of one of the nation's largest charitable trusts, Cecily wielded a tremendous amount of clout not only in the
Philadelphia
community, which was certainly indebted to her, but with the
Washington
elite as well.
    More low-key than his flamboyant wife. Ward was nonetheless a successful businessman who had managed to keep the small bank founded by his grandfather in the early 1920s not only private but thriving. In a world of mergers and hostile takeovers, that task hadn't been easy. The only one of the Sanders children to show an interest in banking, he was also the least appreciated by Monroe Sanders, his formidable, irascible father.
    Victoria
adored her aunt and uncle, with good reason. When her parents died in a
Chesapeake Bay
boating accident twenty-eight years ago, the couple had opened their arms to the grieving child and raised her as if she were their own.
    Becoming a father hadn't been difficult for Ward, who came from a large family and had always longed for a child. Cecily, on the other hand, had been filled with doubts and anxieties at the thought of raising her sister's eight-year-old daughter. Childless by choice, she had worried that she wouldn't be able to meet the demands of her high-powered job as vice president of the Norton Charitable Trust and be a devoted mother at the same time.
    She had surprised everyone, including herself. Within a few weeks, she had assumed the role so perfectly and effortlessly that Ward had fondly nicknamed her June Cleaver, after the ultimate TV mom of the fifties.
    Six years ago, impressed by
Victoria
's extensive knowledge of art, Cecily had bought the antiques shop on
Rittenhouse Square
and put her niece in charge, a decision neither had ever regretted.
    The only clash between the two women had occurred when
Victoria
had announced she was in love with Jonathan Bowman, then the general manager of the Chenonceau Hotel and Casino in
Atlantic City
, and that she intended to marry him.
    Ward, practical to a fault, had immediately investigated Jonathan's background. When the
Wilmington
,
Delaware
, native turned out to be a decent, hardworking young man who was very much in love with
Victoria
, Ward had given his unconditional blessings.
    Not Cecily. Though she herself had come from modest beginnings, she had lofty ambitions for her beautiful niece and those ambitions did not include marrying a man whose boss was suspected of having ties to the mob.
    It had taken Ward weeks to convince his wife not only that the charges against Syd Webber had been dropped for insufficient evidence, but that Jonathan's job as a casino executive in no way reflected on his integrity or his ability to make Victoria happy.
    Watching Cecily now, as
Victoria
told her about Jonathan's disappearance, Kelly was forced to admit that in spite of Cecily's occasional shortsightedness, her only goal had always been to make
Victoria
happy.
    When
Victoria
was finished. Ward turned to Kelly. His attractive features