Chapter 3 - Grace Harper’s SecretGrace Harper woke with a fever of 103 degrees to find the most feared man in Boston standing in the doorway of her basement apartment.
She tried to stand.
I stopped her.
“Stay down.”
Her face went white.
“Mr. Duca.”
“Where would Mia go if she were frightened?”
Grace blinked.
“What?”
I did not know how to soften this.
So I did what I always did.
I told the truth.
“She was taken.”
Grace screamed.
Not dramatically.
Not loudly.
It came out broken.
Animal.
She tried to get out of bed.
Roman caught her before she fell.
“No. No, no, no—”
“Grace.”
“You said taken?”
“I will bring her back.”
“You don’t understand.”
Her voice changed.
I looked at her.
“What don’t I understand?”
Grace stared at me.
Then at Roman.
Then toward Lily sleeping in a basket beside the bed.
“I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“The knocking.”
My anger sharpened.
“You knew someone was inside my wall?”
“No.”
She began crying.
“I knew there were hidden passages.”
Silence.
“How?”
Grace closed her eyes.
“My husband built them.”
Her husband.
I had not known she had been married.
Again, eight years in my house, and I knew almost nothing.
“His name?”
“Thomas Harper.”
Roman looked at me immediately.
I recognized it.
Thomas Harper had been a contractor for my uncle.
He disappeared seven years ago.
Grace continued.
“He renovated parts of the house before I ever worked for you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because three months after he tried to quit working for your uncle, he vanished.”
My stomach tightened.
“You think Vincenzo killed him?”
“I think he wanted me to believe that.”
She opened a drawer.
From beneath folded clothing, she removed a key.
Old brass.
She placed it in my palm.
“Thomas gave me this the night before he disappeared.”
“What does it open?”
“He said if anything ever happened to him, I should find the blue door.”
“What blue door?”
“I don’t know.”
I stared at her.
Grace looked terrified.
“He told me never to trust anyone named Duca.”
That landed.
“And then you came to work for me?”
She laughed bitterly.
“I had a six-month-old daughter and no money. Your housekeeper offered me a job.”
“Mia?”
“She was born later.”
I stood.
“When was the last time you saw Thomas?”
“Seven years ago.”
“Any contact?”
Grace hesitated.
That was enough.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Roman stepped closer.
“How?”
“A letter.”
“Where is it?”
Grace looked at me.
“I burned it.”
“Why?”
“He told me to.”
“What did it say?”
Her lips trembled.
“That Daniel Duca was alive.”
Every instinct inside me hardened.
“You knew?”
“I didn’t know whether to believe him.”
“You knew there was a possibility my brother was alive for two years.”
“You are a mafia boss.”
“So?”
“So I didn’t know whether telling you would save Thomas or get him killed.”
I had no answer.
Because from her perspective, she was right.
I represented the same family she feared.
We searched the apartment.
Behind a loose baseboard, Roman found something Grace had never seen.
A photograph.
Thomas.
Daniel.
Elias Ward.
All three standing in front of an industrial building.
On the back:
BLUE DOOR. PIER 19.
I looked at Roman.
Pier 19 belonged to one of Vincenzo’s shell companies.
We left immediately.
But before I reached the door, Grace grabbed my sleeve.
“Bring her back.”
I looked down at her hand.
She released me instantly.
“Please.”
I thought of Mia standing between me and Lily.
Tiny shoulders.
Terrified eyes.
“I will.”
Pier 19 looked abandoned.
It wasn’t.
Roman found fresh tire tracks.
Two men guarded the rear entrance.
We took them quietly.
Inside was an empty warehouse.
Except for a blue steel door.
The brass key opened it.
Beyond was an office.
Inside were surveillance monitors.
Hundreds of hours of footage.
My house.
My office.
My bedroom.
Grace’s apartment.
Mia’s school.
My entire life had been watched.
Then one monitor flickered.
Live video.
A small room.
Mia sat on a chair.
Her hands were free.
She held a cup of juice.
A man stood behind her.
Vincenzo.
My uncle looked directly into the camera.
“Hello, Adrian.”
Mia stared at the screen.
Then she saw me.
“Mr. Duca!”
I stepped toward the monitor.
Vincenzo smiled.
“You finally found the door.”
“Let her go.”
“Not yet.”
“She’s six.”
“Yes.”
His smile disappeared.
“And Daniel was twenty-six.”
My blood went cold.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“What ledger?”
Vincenzo laughed.
“Your father’s ledger.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Then perhaps little Mia can help you find it.”
Mia’s eyes widened.
Vincenzo leaned down beside her.
“Tell him what you heard, sweetheart.”
Mia looked terrified.
Then whispered:
“The man behind the wall said your daddy hid something in the church.”
Vincenzo smiled.
May you like
“There. Now we all have something to look for.”
The screen went black.
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