Chapter 3 - THE BLUE TICKET
I couldn't feel my fingers.
I stared at the blue train ticket resting on the mahogany desk.
It was a sleeper car ticket to Montreal.
Issued for tonight.
Departs at 11:45 P.M.
Passenger name: Leo Bennett.
"No," I choked out.
The word scraped against my throat.
"He's at my neighbor's apartment. Mrs. Higgins. She's watching him."
I grabbed the heavy brass phone on Luca's desk with my left hand.
I didn't ask for permission.
I dialed the number I knew by heart.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
"Hello?"
It wasn't Mrs. Higgins.
The voice belonged to a man.
Deep. Calm.
"Who is this?" I demanded, my voice cracking. "Where is Mrs. Higgins? Where is Leo?"
"Sophie?"
It was Andrew Keller.
The photographer.
My blood turned to ice.
"Where is my son?" I screamed.
"He's eating ice cream," Keller said smoothly. "Mrs. Higgins had a little slip in the kitchen. Bumped her head. The paramedics took her to Mercy Hospital. I told them I was your cousin. I said I'd watch the boy until you finished your shift."
I couldn't breathe.
The room began to spin.
Luca's hand clamped down on my good shoulder, steadying me.
He took the phone from my trembling fingers.
He pressed the speaker button.
"Keller," Luca said.
Silence on the other end.
Then, a low chuckle. "Mr. Moretti. I assume you found the bag."
"I found it."
"Vanessa is a very impatient woman," Keller said. "She wants the wedding moved up. Tomorrow morning. Private ceremony. Just the two of you."
"And if I say no?"
"Then little Leo takes a train ride. Alone."
I let out a sob.
Luca's grip on my shoulder tightened, grounding me.
"Listen to me, Keller," Luca said, his voice completely devoid of emotion. "If you hurt a single hair on that boy's head, I won't just kill you. I will erase your entire bloodline from the earth. Do you understand me?"
"Tomorrow morning, Luca. Sign the marriage certificate. Transfer the offshore accounts. Or Sophie goes to the police for murdering her own son for the insurance money."
Click.
The line went dead.
I collapsed into the leather chair behind the desk.
"They're going to kill him," I whispered. "Oh, God. My baby."
"Nobody is dying tonight," Luca said.
He walked around the desk.
He didn't look like a man whose engagement had just shattered.
He looked like a general going to war.
"Why?" I asked, looking up at him through tears. "Why is she doing this? If she stole from you four years ago, why wait until now to marry you?"
Luca picked up the broken rosary.
"Because she didn't just steal money, Sophie. She stole a ledger."
He traced his thumb over the missing arm of the crucifix.
"A physical book. It contains the names of every corrupt politician, judge, and police commissioner on my payroll. If that ledger goes public, my entire syndicate collapses. I go to federal prison for the rest of my life."
"David found it?"
"David found out she had it. He was trying to bring it to me the night he was killed."
I stared at the rosary.
"Why did they leave this in the bag?" I asked.
"To prove they were the ones who killed him," Luca said. "To show me they aren't bluffing."
Suddenly, a realization hit me.
I looked at the blue train ticket.
Then at the broken rosary.
"Wait," I said.
I stood up, ignoring the shooting pain in my shoulder.
"David didn't wear that rosary the night he died."
Luca frowned. "What?"
"He broke the crucifix three days before the accident," I said, my mind racing. "He was fixing the sink. It caught on a pipe and snapped. He was so upset, he put it in the cedar box in my closet. He never wore it again."
Luca went perfectly still.
"Are you absolutely sure?"
"I'm positive. I saw it in the box yesterday morning."
Luca looked at the security monitors.
"If David didn't have it on him when he died..."
"Then whoever took it had to have been inside my apartment," I finished.
We both looked at the screen.
Vanessa was still downstairs.
But Andrew Keller was no longer standing by the front door.
He was gone.
"Daniel!" Luca yelled, hitting a button on his desk console. "Where is Keller?"
Static crackled.
"Boss," Daniel's voice came through, tight and out of breath. "He slipped out through the catering kitchen. We're sweeping the grounds."
Luca cursed under his breath.
He turned to me.
"Vanessa didn't give Keller that bag to hide under my bed," Luca said slowly.
I blinked. "What?"
"Vanessa doesn't have the ledger," Luca said, realization dawning in his eyes. "Keller does."
Before I could process that, the study door swung open.
Vanessa stood in the doorway.
Her red silk gown rustled as she stepped inside.
She held a heavy, crystal whiskey decanter in her right hand.
She wasn't smiling anymore.
She looked past Luca.
She looked directly at me.
May you like
"I told you to be careful, Sophie," Vanessa said coldly.
And then she raised the decanter and smashed it against the side of her own head.
