Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW THE DEAD
Elena read the sentence twice before her body understood it.
SHE SHOULD HAVE DIED WITH ALESSANDRA.
The room smelled like antiseptic, oxygen, and the lavender lotion Elena had rubbed into her mother’s hands that morning.
The blankets were twisted.
One slipper lay beneath the bed.
The other was gone.
Maria had not walked out willingly.
“She can barely cross a room without help.”
Dante stood behind her.
His daughter had been taken downstairs with the nanny and two guards. He had resisted leaving Sofia even for a minute. Elena had seen it.
The terrifying man from the restaurant became a frightened father every time he looked at his child.
Now the father was gone again.
In his place stood the man Boston whispered about.
He picked up the necklace with a folded handkerchief.
“Don’t touch anything else.”
Elena turned.
“Don’t tell me what to touch in my mother’s hospital room.”
His eyes met hers.
“This is a crime scene.”
“This is my life.”
For one second, anger burned between them.
Then Dante nodded.
“Fair.”
It unsettled her more than if he argued.
A nurse hurried in.
Her badge read JANICE PORTER.
She stopped when she saw Dante.
Her face went pale.
“Mr. Rinaldi.”
Dante noticed.
“So you know me.”
“I—everyone knows—”
“Who removed Maria Hart from this room?”
“No one.”
Elena took one step toward her.
“What?”
Janice’s eyes darted to the empty bed.
“She was here during rounds at eight.”
“It’s eight-forty.”
“I know.”
“Who came in?”
“Family only.”
“I’m family.”
Janice swallowed.
“There was a man.”
Dante’s voice dropped.
“Describe him.”
“Late thirties. Maybe forty. Dark coat. Hospital visitor badge.”
“Name?”
“He said he was her son.”
Elena felt ice move through her chest.
“My brother is dead.”
Janice looked sick.
“I didn’t know.”
“What name did he give?”
“Evan Hart.”
Elena stared.
Her brother had been named Evan.
He died twelve years ago.
Car accident.
Twenty-two years old.
Maria stopped singing for nearly a year afterward.
Dante’s gaze sharpened.
“Someone knew her family history.”
Elena looked at him.
“Who?”
“We’re going to find out.”
He made three phone calls.
Within minutes, men appeared.
Not police.
Men in dark coats with quiet voices and expensive shoes.
One closed the elevators.
One spoke with security.
Another disappeared toward the parking garage.
Elena watched.
“What exactly do you do?”
Dante did not look at her.
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Find people.”
“And normally?”
“Try not to answer questions that create more questions.”
She almost laughed despite herself.
“That must be convenient.”
A hospital security officer arrived.
Dante asked for footage.
The officer hesitated.
Dante said a name.
The officer stopped hesitating.
They went to the security office.
At 8:17, video showed a man pushing Maria in a wheelchair.
Baseball cap.
Mask.
Hospital scrubs beneath his coat.
Maria’s head sagged forward.
“She’s drugged.”
Elena gripped the back of a chair.
The man entered a service elevator.
Camera changed.
Basement corridor.
Then nothing.
“No garage footage?” Dante asked.
The security officer looked embarrassed.
“Camera twelve went offline.”
“When?”
“Eight-fourteen.”
Three minutes before Maria entered the elevator.
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“Planned.”
Elena’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone looked at it.
She answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then breathing.
“Mom?”
A man’s voice answered.
“Your mother should have kept her promise.”
Elena’s skin went cold.
“Who is this?”
Dante stepped closer.
The voice continued.
“Ask Rinaldi what his wife found in the harbor accounts.”
Elena looked at Dante.
His expression went blank.
“Where is my mother?”
“Still alive.”
Her knees weakened.
“For now.”
“Please.”
The word escaped before pride could stop it.
“Please don’t hurt her.”
The man laughed softly.
“Then stop singing dead women’s songs.”
The call ended.
Dante took the phone from her hand.
“Number?”
“Blocked.”
He handed it to one of his men.
“Trace whatever you can.”
Elena looked at him.
“Harbor accounts.”
Dante said nothing.
“You know what he meant.”
“Yes.”
“What are they?”
He looked toward the security officer.
“Not here.”
“I am not going anywhere until—”
“Exactly.”
His voice hardened.
“Which is why you are coming with me.”
Elena laughed once.
“No.”
“Your apartment is compromised.”
“You don’t know that.”
“The caller knew where you work, who your mother is, and what you sang tonight.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“He knew you were with me.”
She went quiet.
Dante stepped closer.
“He is not only watching Maria.”
Fear settled deeper.
“What about Sofia?”
His face changed.
“She is already being moved.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere safe.”
The elevator opened.
Lucia stepped out.
Elena stared.
“What are you doing here?”
The old woman looked twenty years older than she had in the restaurant.
“I came to tell the truth before someone else dies.”
Dante’s eyes turned cold.
“Good.”
Lucia ignored him.
She took Elena’s hands.
“Your mother worked for the Rinaldis when she was young.”
Elena stared.
“No.”
“She did.”
“She cleaned offices?”
“Not exactly.”
Lucia sat heavily in a waiting chair.
“Maria was Alessandra’s nurse.”
Elena looked at Dante.
He looked equally surprised.
“Nurse?”
Lucia nodded.
“Private nurse. Years before you met Alessandra.”
Dante’s expression hardened.
“Alessandra never mentioned her.”
“Because Maria left.”
“Why?”
Lucia looked at Elena.
“Because she discovered something about the Rinaldi family.”
Dante’s voice went quiet.
“Careful.”
Lucia glared at him.
“I am seventy-two. Do not threaten me with a face.”
One of Dante’s men coughed.
Elena almost smiled.
Lucia continued.
“Maria worked for Dante’s father after Alessandra was injured in college.”
“Injured how?” Elena asked.
Lucia hesitated.
“Car accident.”
Dante stiffened.
Lucia looked at him.
“You were told it was an accident.”
“You’re saying it wasn’t.”
“No.”
Elena felt the story changing shape again.
“What happened?”
“Alessandra had started asking questions about her family trust. Money was missing.”
Dante frowned.
“She inherited from her mother.”
“Yes.”
“And someone inside the Rinaldi organization was using it to hide payments.”
Dante stared.
“Who?”
Lucia shook her head.
“Maria never told me.”
“Convenient.”
“She was terrified.”
“So she left?”
“Yes.”
“And eighteen years later Alessandra called her?”
Lucia looked down.
“They never completely lost contact.”
Dante’s voice sharpened.
“You knew my wife was meeting Maria.”
“Yes.”
“While she was married to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Alessandra stopped trusting people in your house.”
Silence.
Elena felt Dante’s anger turn inward.
“She trusted me.”
Lucia’s face softened.
“She loved you.”
“That is not the same answer.”
“No.”
The truth hurt him.
Elena could see it.
Lucia continued.
“After Sofia was born, Alessandra started looking at old financial records again. She believed the person who tried to frighten her in college was still moving money.”
“Harbor accounts,” Elena said.
Lucia nodded.
Dante looked toward the dark window.
“My shipping company.”
“Yes.”
His jaw hardened.
“She thought someone was stealing through my company.”
“No. She thought someone was using your company to pay people.”
“For what?”
Lucia looked at Elena.
“To make problems disappear.”
Elena thought of car accidents.
Deaths.
Hospital rooms.
Her brother Evan.
A terrible idea formed.
“No.”
Lucia looked at her.
“Elena—”
“My brother died in a car accident.”
“I know.”
“Was my mother still in contact with Alessandra then?”
Lucia did not answer.
“Was she?”
“Yes.”
Elena stepped backward.
Her lungs forgot how to work.
“Did Evan die because of this?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not good enough.”
“It is the truth.”
Dante moved between them before Elena realized she was shouting.
“Lucia.”
“What?”
“Who else knew Maria was alive?”
Lucia’s face changed.
“Three people.”
“Names.”
“Me. Alessandra.”
“And?”
Lucia looked at Dante.
“Your brother.”
Dante went completely still.
“Gabriel?”
“Yes.”
Elena knew that name too.
Gabriel Rinaldi.
Dante’s younger brother.
Public face of Rinaldi Logistics.
Charity boards.
Newspaper photographs.
The good Rinaldi.
“What does Gabriel have to do with this?” Dante asked.
“Alessandra trusted him.”
“Then why does your face look like that?”
Lucia closed her eyes.
“Because three days before Alessandra died, she came to my restaurant.”
Dante stopped breathing.
“She said she had made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“She trusted Gabriel.”
No one moved.
Dante’s phone rang.
He looked at it.
His expression changed.
“What?”
A voice came through faintly.
Dante listened.
Then looked at Elena.
“We found the van.”
“Where?”
“South Boston docks.”
Her heart slammed.
“My mother?”
“No sign of her.”
“Then what did you find?”
He hesitated.
“Blood.”
Elena went cold.
“How much?”
“Not enough to assume the worst.”
“That is not an answer.”
He stepped closer.
“And a photograph.”
“Of what?”
His man sent it.
Dante opened the image.
A printed photograph lay on the van floor.
Alessandra Rinaldi.
Maria Hart.
And between them, a much younger Gabriel Rinaldi.
On the back, someone had written:
THREE PEOPLE KNEW.
ONLY ONE KEPT QUIET.
Elena stared.
Dante’s voice became very soft.
“My brother has been missing since five this afternoon.”
Lucia whispered a prayer.
Elena looked at him.
“You think Gabriel took my mother?”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because Gabriel knows I would find him.”
His eyes returned to the photograph.
“And whoever did this wants me to believe he is guilty.”
Elena crossed her arms to stop shaking.
“Then who benefits?”
Dante looked at her.
“That is the question Alessandra died trying to answer.”
A nurse appeared at the end of the hall.
“Ms. Hart?”
Elena turned.
“We found something in your mother’s belongings.”
The nurse handed her a small envelope.
“It was taped beneath the drawer.”
Elena opened it.
Inside was a hotel key card.
Room 614.
The Harborview Hotel.
And a note in Maria’s handwriting.
Elena—
If the lullaby ever brings Dante Rinaldi to you, do not run from him.
Run with him.
Because if he hears it, Alessandra is gone.
And Gabriel has already failed.
Elena read the final line twice.
Dante read over her shoulder.
His face drained of color.
May you like
At the bottom, Maria had added:
THE MAN WHO KILLED HER SITS AT DANTE’S RIGHT HAND.
