Chapter 5 - The Faded Red Collar
The words hung in the sterile air of the penthouse.
He hid it on the dog.
Luca and I stared at Vanessa.
“What are you talking about?” Luca demanded.
Vanessa smiled, though her hands were shaking. “My father has been looking for the Milwaukee Ledger for fourteen years. Frank’s diary. The one with all the names, all the offshore accounts, and the proof of what happened to my mother.”
She looked at me with pure venom.
“Your mother was the nurse who treated my mother the night my father beat her half to death in Milwaukee. Your mother helped her escape. And Frank Moretti helped them both.”
I gasped.
My mother had never told me she worked in a hospital. She had always claimed she was a career cashier.
“Frank gave your mother the dog to establish a connection,” Vanessa continued. “A reason for them to be seen together at the truck stop. But he didn't give her the ledger. He hid the key to the ledger inside the dog’s collar.”
My mind raced back to Teresa sitting in her chair, rubbing the faded red fabric of Scout’s collar between her trembling fingers.
Frank had bought that collar fourteen years ago.
Teresa had never replaced it.
Vanessa had tried to banish Scout, then claimed he was dead, all to get her hands on that thick, canvas collar.
“If you touch my mother,” I stepped forward, my voice shaking with a rage I didn't know I possessed, “I swear to God, I will kill you myself.”
Vanessa laughed, but Luca didn't.
He looked at me, realizing the quiet, desperate maid had just vanished.
“Tie her to the chair,” Luca ordered Matteo, who had just stepped out of the elevator with three heavily armed men. “If Marcus calls, tell him I have his daughter.”
Luca grabbed my hand. “We need to get to my mother. Now.”
We raced back to the mansion.
I practically fell out of the SUV before it fully stopped.
We ran through the courtyard to the back gardens.
Teresa was sitting on a wrought-iron bench near the rose bushes. The sun was shining. She had a cup of tea in her hand, and Scout was asleep on the grass at her feet, snoring softly.
“Mom,” Luca said gently, slowing his pace so he wouldn't frighten her.
Teresa looked up and smiled. “Oh, hello, sweetheart. Look at him. He loves this weather.”
Luca knelt beside the old dog. He scratched Scout gently behind the ears. The beagle opened one eye and thumped his tail.
“Mom, I need to look at Scout’s collar for a second.”
Teresa frowned slightly. “Is it too tight? I tried to loosen it this morning.”
“No, it’s fine. I just need to check the tag.”
Luca carefully unbuckled the faded red canvas.
He held it in his hands. It was thick, worn smooth at the edges from fourteen years of scratching and sleeping.
Luca pulled a small pocket knife from his jacket.
“Luca, what are you doing?” Teresa asked, alarmed. “Frank bought that for him!”
“I know, Mom. I’ll buy him a hundred new ones, I promise.”
Luca slid the blade along the inner seam of the collar.
The heavy red canvas split open.
Tucked deep inside the lining, wrapped in a tiny piece of waterproof wax paper, was a small brass key.
Engraved on the key was a single number: 402.
Teresa gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
“I know that key,” she whispered.
Luca looked up. “What is it?”
“It belongs to your father’s old hunting cabin near Lake Geneva. The one we haven't used since you were a boy.”
Before Luca could ask another question, his cell phone rang.
It was an unknown number.
Luca answered it on speakerphone.
“Luca,” a deep, gravelly voice echoed from the phone.
Marcus Bellini.
“Marcus,” Luca said, his voice turning to ice. “You have ten seconds to tell me Mary Collins is safe, or your daughter is going to learn how to breathe through a feeding tube.”
Marcus chuckled darkly. “Vanessa is a disappointment. Keep her. But I have the nurse. And I know you found the key.”
I dropped to my knees on the grass, covering my mouth to stifle a sob.
“Bring the key to the Lake Geneva cabin, Luca,” Marcus ordered. “Come alone. If I see a single one of your soldiers, I’ll put a bullet in the nurse’s head and burn the cabin to the ground with the ledger inside it.”
The line went dead.
Luca slowly stood up. He pocketed the key.
“Matteo is going to take you and my mother to the safe house downtown,” Luca said to me, his tone absolute.
“No,” I said, standing up, my legs shaking. “She’s my mother. I’m going with you.”
“Hannah, it’s a trap. Marcus has an army waiting up there.”
“I don't care! I’m not losing her!”
Luca stared at me. He saw the sheer, unbending terror and resolve in my eyes.
May you like
Without a word, he opened his jacket, pulled a heavy black handgun from his shoulder holster, and handed it to me.
“You stay behind me,” he commanded. “Do exactly what I say.”
