Chapter 4 - The Brother Dominic Never Had
Dominic wanted to get out of bed.
That was the first argument of the morning.
“No.”
“I’m not asking.”
“Good. Then you won’t be disappointed when I refuse.”
He stared at me.
“You work for me.”
“Technically Leo hired me.”
“I can fire you.”
“Please do. After I finish this antibiotic.”
His jaw tightened.
I adjusted the IV.
He watched my hands.
“You enjoy this.”
“What?”
“Winning.”
“Only when the patient is wrong.”
“And when am I wrong?”
“Currently? About ninety percent of the time.”
His eyes narrowed.
Then he said, “Help me sit.”
That was different.
A request.
I helped him sit on the edge of the bed.
He was stronger than he looked, but the infection had drained him.
His right arm stayed close to his body.
Sweat appeared along his hairline.
“Dizzy?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
“Five seconds.”
“Thirty.”
He looked irritated.
But he stayed.
Progress comes in strange forms.
Leo entered carrying two phones and a folder.
“Matteo’s car was found near Route 9.”
“Empty?” Dominic asked.
“Yes.”
“Blood?”
“No.”
“Phone?”
“Gone.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“What about Harris?”
“Not answering.”
“Family?”
“Gone.”
I looked between them.
“Harris has family?”
“Wife,” Leo said. “Teenage son.”
“Gone voluntarily?”
“We don’t know.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Find out.”
Leo sat across from him.
“Danny, we also checked Bellini’s financials.”
“And?”
“Three deposits over the last month.”
“From?”
“Northline Consulting.”
Dominic laughed without humor.
“That company belongs to Matteo.”
“Indirectly.”
Of course.
The money trail was almost too easy.
I said, “Could be deliberate.”
Both men looked at me.
“What?” Leo asked.
“If Bellini wanted to hide being paid by Matteo, he wouldn’t use a shell company that traces back this easily.”
Dominic nodded slowly.
“So someone wanted us to find it.”
“Maybe.”
Leo frowned.
“That means Bellini could have been paid to look guilty.”
“Or paid by Matteo and someone wants us to find it now.”
Dominic looked at me.
“You do this often?”
“People lie in ERs constantly.”
“About murder?”
“Usually about how they fell on objects.”
Leo stared.
Dominic actually smiled.
Then pain pulled it away.
The cultures returned by afternoon.
The wound grew Pseudomonas.
Not impossible in a home environment.
But unusual given the dressing materials used.
Maya came back to review antibiotics.
She looked at the culture report.
“Pseudomonas can contaminate water, equipment, solutions.”
I remembered something.
“The fragment.”
Price had sealed it.
Maya nodded.
“If someone contaminated the fragment before placing it, that could seed the wound.”
Dominic’s face went still.
“So someone opened the incision.”
“Possibly.”
“Bellini.”
“Possibly.”
Maya was careful with words.
I appreciated that.
Dominic hated it.
Leo’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
“Found Harris.”
“Where?” Dominic asked.
“Police station.”
That surprised everyone.
“Harris walked in voluntarily,” Leo continued. “He says he needs protection.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“From Matteo?”
“No.”
Leo looked at me.
“From Bellini.”
The story turned again.
Dr. Harris agreed to speak only to Dominic’s attorney and one detective.
Dominic insisted on joining by video.
I stayed because he was still technically under nursing care.
And because nobody could make me leave.
Harris appeared on the screen exhausted and frightened.
“I recommended Bellini because I thought you needed someone outside the hospital system.”
Dominic’s voice was cold.
“You were at the warehouse.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know the shooter?”
“No.”
“Why are you hiding?”
Harris looked at the detective.
Then back at Dominic.
“Because Bellini contacted me two days after your surgery.”
“What did he want?”
“To know whether you remembered the warehouse.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“What do you mean?”
“He asked whether you had said anything under sedation.”
“About what?”
Harris swallowed.
“Elena.”
The room froze.
Leo swore softly.
Dominic stopped breathing for a second.
I watched his face.
Not anger.
Fear.
“What about my sister?”
Harris looked miserable.
“The warehouse meeting was not about the west-side agreement.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“What was it about?”
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
“Who ordered Elena’s car bombing.”
Dominic went completely still.
Leo looked at him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
Harris continued.
“Luke Santoro found a retired mechanic in Indiana who claimed he had installed the device six years ago.”
“Who paid him?”
“I never heard the name.”
“Then why were you there?”
“Luke asked me to come because the mechanic had cancer and needed medical clearance to travel.”
Dominic stared.
“So the meeting was about Elena.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t Luke tell me?”
“He wanted proof first.”
That made sense.
Too much sense.
Dominic closed his eyes.
The shooting had happened at a meeting meant to reveal his sister’s killer.
Someone wanted that secret buried.
The current infection might be a second attempt.
Harris leaned closer to the camera.
“Bellini knew about Elena.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who else knew?”
“Luke. Me. The mechanic. One guard.”
“Matteo?”
Harris shook his head.
“Not from us.”
Dominic asked, “Where is the mechanic?”
Harris looked down.
“Dead.”
Of course.
“When?”
“The night after you were shot.”
Leo stood.
“How?”
“Heart attack, officially.”
Dominic’s face became empty.
I knew that expression.
The calm before violence.
“Nora,” he said.
“Yes?”
“Leave.”
“No.”
His eyes sharpened.
“This is family business.”
“That excuse has already nearly killed you.”
Silence.
Leo looked at the floor.
Maya pretended to study the IV pump.
Dominic stared at me.
Then looked away.
“Fine.”
Harris continued.
“The mechanic left a sealed statement with Luke.”
Leo frowned.
“Then where is Luke Santoro?”
No one knew.
He had disappeared after the warehouse shooting.
Everyone assumed he had gone into hiding.
But now?
Harris said, “Bellini believes Luke has the statement.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Then Bellini is hunting Luke.”
“Or working for whoever is.”
The call ended.
The room stayed quiet.
Dominic leaned back against the pillows, exhausted.
I checked his fever.
Improving.
Finally.
“Better,” I said.
He gave me a look.
“Do not sound pleased.”
“I am pleased.”
“My sister’s murder is connected to this.”
“And your temperature is down two degrees.”
He stared.
“You are very strange.”
“I contain multitudes.”
Maya laughed.
Leo did not.
He was looking at his phone.
“What?” Dominic asked.
“Message from an unknown number.”
Leo read it.
Then went pale.
“Show me.”
He handed Dominic the phone.
A photograph.
Luke Santoro tied to a chair in an empty warehouse.
Alive.
Bruised.
Holding a newspaper dated that morning.
Across the bottom of the image:
THE STATEMENT FOR THE NURSE.
Dominic looked at me.
I felt cold.
“Why me?”
No one answered.
Then a second message arrived.
SHE KNOWS HOW TO KEEP A MAN ALIVE.
LET’S SEE IF SHE CAN KEEP THIS ONE ALIVE TOO.
Beneath it was an address.
May you like
And a time.
Midnight.
