Chapter 4 - THE WARRANT IN THE DETECTIVE'S HAND
The flashing police lights painted the bedroom walls in frantic strokes of red and blue.
“They can’t arrest him!” I yelled into the phone, clutching Leo tightly to my side. “Vanessa is lying!”
“I know she’s lying, Olivia,” Daniel said, his voice tight with panic. “But the police have a signed warrant. And they found a bloody knife taped under Luca’s desk.”
My stomach dropped.
Vanessa had planted it. She knew Luca would find the watch. She knew he would come for her. She had set the trap perfectly.
“What do I do?” I asked, trembling.
“Stay with the boy. If they take Luca, I’m getting you both out of the city.”
The line went dead.
Downstairs, I heard the heavy thud of boots and shouting.
“Is Uncle Luca in trouble?” Leo asked, his big brown eyes wide with fear.
“No, sweetie,” I lied, forcing a smile. “It’s just a misunderstanding.”
I couldn’t just sit there.
I remembered the auction catalog Luca had shown me on his phone.
Lot 12. Purchased by Owner.
If Elias Thorne bought the notebook to send a message to Luca, there had to be more to the auction listing.
I pulled out my phone and quickly searched the private auction house’s website. I found the archived catalog for last Thursday’s sale.
I scrolled to Lot 12.
The black leather notebook.
I zoomed in on the high-resolution photograph of the item.
Something caught my eye.
Sticking out of the pages of the notebook in the photo was a thin, white bookmark.
There were numbers printed on the bookmark.
41.8781 N, 87.6298 W.
GPS coordinates.
My hands shook as I typed the coordinates into my map app.
The location dropped a pin on an abandoned warehouse district on the South Side of Chicago.
Elias wasn’t just taunting Luca. He was telling him exactly where to find him.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the hallway.
The heavy bedroom doors rattled violently as someone kicked them.
“Open up! Chicago PD!” a rough voice shouted.
I scooped Leo into my arms. “Hold on tight, baby.”
I unlocked the door and pulled it open.
Two detectives barged in, their guns drawn.
Behind them, standing in the hallway with a smug, victorious smile, was Vanessa.
“There she is, officers,” Vanessa said, pointing her manicured finger at me. “That’s the maid who helped him hide the evidence.”
“What?!” I screamed.
One of the detectives grabbed my arm, shoving me against the wall. “Olivia Bennett, you are under arrest as an accessory to the murder of Michael Moretti.”
“No! Let me go! The boy!”
A female officer took Leo from my arms. Leo started screaming, kicking wildly.
“Auntie Olivia! Uncle Luca!”
“You’re framing him!” I shouted at Vanessa as the detective clamped handcuffs roughly around my wrists. “You planted the knife!”
Vanessa stepped closer, lowering her voice so only I could hear.
“I told you, Olivia,” she whispered maliciously. “You clean toilets. You never should have questioned me.”
They dragged me down the grand staircase.
Luca was in the foyer, handcuffed, surrounded by four officers. His face was a mask of cold, lethal fury.
When he saw them dragging me down the stairs, he lunged forward, fighting the officers with terrifying strength.
“Let her go!” Luca roared. “She has nothing to do with this!”
“Save it for the judge, Moretti,” the lead detective sneered.
They hauled us out the front doors and shoved us into separate squad cars.
I sat in the back of the cruiser, the hard plastic seat digging into my back. Tears of absolute despair streamed down my face.
My brother’s tuition. My rent. It was all gone. I was going to prison for a murder I didn't commit.
The squad car pulled out of the gates.
We drove for twenty minutes through the dark, rain-slicked streets of Chicago.
I stared out the window, sobbing quietly.
But then, I noticed something strange.
The squad car wasn’t heading toward the downtown precinct.
We had merged onto the highway, driving south. Toward the industrial district.
“Excuse me,” I said to the two officers in the front. “Where are you taking me?”
They didn’t answer.
The car exited the highway, turning onto a desolate, unlit road lined with rusted shipping containers and abandoned factories.
My blood ran cold.
The GPS coordinates I had seen on the auction bookmark.
We were heading exactly to the location Elias Thorne had hidden in the catalog.
The squad car pulled into a dark warehouse and stopped.
The driver turned around.
He took off his police cap.
In the dim light of the dashboard, I saw his face.
It was Daniel. The head of security.
“Daniel?” I breathed, utter confusion paralyzing me. “Why are you driving a police car?”
Daniel didn’t smile. He unlocked the back doors.
“Because the real police are currently booking Luca,” Daniel said grimly. “I intercepted your transport. We don’t have much time, Olivia.”
“Time for what?”
Daniel stepped out and opened my door. He unlocked my handcuffs.
“Time to find the man who actually killed Michael Moretti,” Daniel said.
He pointed to the shadows of the warehouse.
Stepping out of the darkness, wearing a heavy winter coat, was a man with gray hair and a massive burn scar running down his left wrist.
Elias Thorne.
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And he was holding Leo’s hand.
TITLE: The Coat In The Servant's Hallway
