Chapter 3 - The Ghost on the Books|
The study on the second floor of the main house smelled of old leather, expensive bourbon, and tobacco.
Nico sat behind the wide mahogany desk that had belonged to his father. Across from him, Dante was pouring two fingers of rye into a lowball glass.
"Walter Brandt knows by now," Dante said, setting the glass down. "His daughter is dead, his house is burnt to the ground, and his grandkids are missing. By midnight, he'll have every crew from the river to the state line looking for them."
Nico didn't touch the glass. He had two phones resting side by side on the polished wood.
His own burner, and Eleanor Brandt's cracked device.
"Call Paulie Rizzo," Nico said.
Dante paused. "Paulie? What's Paulie got to do with a fire on Linden Lane?"
"Paulie was supposed to meet me at eight o'clock at the docks," Nico said. "His car turned off onto Linden Lane five minutes before the fire started."
Dante pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and held it to his ear. He waited six rings before bringing the phone down.
"Voicemail," Dante said.
Nico picked up Eleanor’s phone and tapped the call log. The outgoing call to his burner at 7:08 p.m. was the only entry from tonight. But above it, buried under a contact listed only as M, were seven incoming text messages over the last forty-eight hours.
The books are clear. He doesn't suspect the marine account. Friday at eight. Don't be late.
Nico's jaw tightened.
The marine account was the fake shell company Paulie Rizzo had been using to bleed Valenti Freight.
"Paulie wasn't just stealing from me," Nico said quietly. "He was feeding information to Eleanor Brandt."
"Why would Paulie talk to Walter Brandt's daughter?" Dante asked, leaning against the desk. "Old man Brandt would skin Paulie alive if he caught him on his property."
"Unless Eleanor wasn't working for her father," Nico said.
He stood up, walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, and looked out over the dark driveway.
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Down in the cellar, a girl was sitting on a iron cot with soot on her arms, holding a secret that was going to start a war before sunrise.
"Bring the laptop," Nico said. "We're going down to talk to the nanny again."
