Chapter 7 - The Child They Thought Would Buy Silence
Priya kept saying her daughter's name as though repetition could bring the little girl home. “Anika. Anika. She doesn't know those men. She'll be scared.”
Norah moved a chair beneath her knees. “Sit. Tell the dispatcher exactly what the school said. Don't delete anything, even if another message comes.”
Dominic gave the secure drive to investigator Ortiz, who had come back to the estate after Priya's call. The drive would be preserved, copied, and examined. He refused to let a blackmailer turn evidence into a bargaining chip, but he also understood that a seven-year-old was somewhere in a stranger's car.
Matteo called again. Priya put the phone on speaker under the investigator's direction.
“You made a terrible mistake,” he said conversationally. “But you can correct it. Bring me the files, and your girl gets to go home.”
“I want to hear her,” Priya said.
There was a rustle and a frightened little voice. “Mom?”
Priya made a broken sound. Norah squeezed her shoulder.
“Baby, are you hurt?”
“No. They said we're going for ice cream. I want you.”
“I love you. You listen to the police if you see them, okay?”
The line cut off. Priya bent forward, trembling. Dominic crossed the room and punched the wall, then pulled his hand away immediately, ashamed to have added another sudden violent sound.
“Sorry,” he said to Priya. “I'm sorry.”
Ortiz coordinated with the local authorities. Officers checked traffic cameras, school pickup records, and the number from which the photograph had been sent. The forged authorization bore the signature of a contracted driver who occasionally worked for the Morettis. Frank recognized him: Leo Marsh, dismissed two years earlier for stealing fuel cards. The driver had apparently been hired again through one of Matteo's intermediaries.
Norah thought of something Priya had mentioned while pacing the room. “Anika has asthma, right?”
Priya nodded. “She has an inhaler in her backpack.”
“Tell the officers about it. If she's upset, they'll need to know.” Norah wasn't offering a miracle; she was making sure the people looking for Anika had what they needed. She also helped Priya record a short message in case an officer could play it to the frightened child.
Two hours dragged past. A traffic camera located the car near a waterfront gas station. Police found Leo Marsh buying cigarettes while Anika sat in the locked back seat. They detained him and brought her out safely. By the time Priya reached the station, the little girl was wrapped in a gray blanket, clutching a stuffed rabbit given to her by an officer.
Priya dropped to her knees. “Oh, sweetheart.”
Anika ran into her arms. “You said you'd come.”
“I will always come.”
Norah looked away to give them privacy. She had spent the afternoon bracing for news she could not bear to deliver. Only now did her own legs feel unsteady.
The victory lasted eleven minutes. A reporter called Dominic seeking comment on an anonymous leak claiming a hospice nurse had stolen controlled medications from Salvatore Moretti and manipulated an elderly patient into accusing respected businessman Matteo Vieri of murder. The leak included Norah's full name and the name of her nursing agency.
Dominic stared at the email. “He's going after you.”
Norah read the allegations twice. “Call my agency. Not with threats. With records.”
She called first. Her supervisor, Barbara Ellis, sounded pained. “We're placing you on administrative leave until we review the report. The family is high-profile, and there are allegations of diversion.”
“Please preserve my shift logs,” Norah replied. “I'll give you the incident numbers, the doctor's orders, and the police contact. I want a fair review.”
“Understood.”
She hung up and removed her agency badge. The plastic felt strangely heavy in her palm. Dominic reached for his phone again.
“Don't,” she said.
“I could get this stopped.”
“You could make it look like I need a mob boss to keep my license. I don't.”
“You're losing your job because you helped my father.”
“Then the truth has to be enough to clear me.”
She asked Dr. Shah to arrange an independent replacement nurse immediately and made a careful handover, including Salvatore's communication preferences and the medication discrepancies. Salvatore understood the change when she showed him the board. His fingers hovered above the letters. He selected SORRY.
Norah's throat tightened. “You didn't send that report. But I'm not here to absolve you of everything else, either.”
He pointed to YES. Then he turned toward the window, the same place he'd sat when she first entered the house.
Dominic walked Norah to the front steps after dark. Her old sedan had been checked and moved into the well-lit courtyard. A police officer confirmed that the active threats were being investigated and that Mae's address had been included in the safety planning. None of it made Norah feel invincible. It made her feel less alone.
“I don't want you back in that basement apartment tonight,” Dominic said.
“I'll stay with Mae wherever the officers recommend.”
He nodded. “I've made arrangements to step away from the management of the businesses during the independent audit. Priya will have protection. The employees will be told about the missing health-fund money before rumors find them.”
Norah studied his face. “That'll be ugly.”
“It should be. People trusted us.”
She opened the car door. For a moment Dominic looked as though he wanted to say more. Instead, he said, “Thank you for treating my father like a person.”
“People still have to answer for what they do,” she replied. “Even when they're vulnerable.”
He gave a small, tired smile. “Especially my family.”
On her way out, Norah received a photograph from Evelyn. It showed an archive box in a municipal records room, its seal broken and contents scattered across the floor. A note accompanied it: THE ORIGINAL FIRE INSPECTION REPORT IS GONE.
Thirty seconds later Ortiz called. “Please go straight to the safe address. We're looking into a break-in at the records building.”
“Is Evelyn all right?”
“Yes. But there's something you need to know. The insurance company retained an independent copy of the report. It indicates accelerant residue was found near the locked door. The public fire summary omitted that finding.”
Norah pulled over beneath a streetlight. “Who signed the public summary?”
Ortiz paused. “The fire investigator. And a consultant paid by North Quay.”
“Matteo?”
May you like
“No. Salvatore Moretti.”
Norah gripped the wheel. Even after everything the old man had admitted, another layer of his silence was waiting in the ashes.
