Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO RAN FROM HIS OWN BOSS
Adrien moved before Evelyn understood what had happened. He pushed her behind the armored door and shouted for his drivers to get the children away from the curb. Another shot cracked against the restaurant's stone facade. Glass showered the sidewalk.
“Stay down,” he ordered.
Evelyn crouched beside the rear wheel, her heart battering against her ribs. She could see Sofia through the tinted window. The little girl was crying silently, while Nico and Luca held her hands.
Marco vanished into an alley. Adrien's men pursued him, but a black sedan blocked the exit just long enough for him to escape.
Within minutes the street was full of sirens. Adrien's name drew police attention as reliably as fire drew smoke. Detective Elena Ruiz stepped out of an unmarked car, took one look at the bullet hole in the wall, and said, “Tell me this isn't another territorial dispute.”
“Someone shot at my family,” Adrien replied.
Ruiz studied Evelyn. “And you are?”
“Evelyn Hart.”
The detective's face changed. “Lily Hart's sister?”
Evelyn had never met Ruiz, but the detective knew the case. She had been a rookie assigned to paperwork when Lily disappeared. She remembered the missing child's picture taped above a precinct coffee machine and the order to close the file before the first anniversary.
“I tried to reopen it,” Ruiz said quietly. “The evidence locker inventory didn't match.”
“What evidence?” Evelyn asked.
“A blue ribbon. A child's drawing. Both disappeared.”
Adrien stared at her. “You knew there was a connection to this restaurant?”
“I suspected. Suspicions aren't warrants.”
“Then get one.”
“That's not how the law works, Mr. Belandi.”
“Tonight somebody tried to kill a witness.”
Ruiz looked toward the car. “Which witness?”
Evelyn met her eyes. “A five-year-old girl who hasn't spoken in two years.”
The detective said nothing for a moment. Then she asked for everything, from the first whispered word to the symbol drawn on the window.
They moved into the restaurant's private office, where Mr. Whitmore trembled over the security controls. The dining-room recording showed Sofia speaking, Adrien turning, Evelyn approaching. The service corridor cameras were another matter. Their feeds had gone black at 7:43 p.m., eleven minutes before the child's whisper.
“Coincidence?” Ruiz asked.
Whitmore dabbed his forehead. “A technical problem.”
Adrien pointed to the monitor. “Who has access?”
“Management. Security. The maintenance contractor.”
“And Marco?”
Whitmore looked at the floor.
Evelyn walked toward a framed photograph on the office wall. It showed the restaurant's reopening, Adrien shaking hands with city officials. Behind them stood Marco, Whitmore, and a silver-haired woman in a cream suit.
“Who's she?” Evelyn asked.
“My aunt Celeste,” Adrien said. “She handled the family properties while I was abroad.”
Evelyn felt a chill. “I saw her the day Lily disappeared.”
Adrien's voice dropped. “Are you certain?”
“She gave Lily a red candy. Lily showed it to me before I went back into the kitchen.”
The detective photographed the frame.
Then her phone rang. She listened, her expression growing colder.
“We found Marco's car,” she said. “Abandoned by the river. There's blood inside.”
“His?” Adrien asked.
“Unknown. But there was something on the passenger seat.”
Ruiz held up a photograph. It showed a faded blue hair ribbon tied around a small brass key.
Evelyn gripped the edge of the desk.
May you like
Lily had worn that ribbon the morning she vanished.
And the key was engraved with three tiny circles.
