Chapter 5 - Eleven Forty-Seven
“Put the phone down.”
Maggie did.
Daniel locked the front door.
“You lied about DeSantis.”
“Yes.”
“Who do you work for?”
“A dead man.”
“That sounds inconvenient.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“You're exactly why Vincent likes you.”
“Where’s my security guard?”
“Sleeping. He’ll wake up.”
Relief came first.
Then anger.
“What do you want?”
“For you to listen.”
Daniel removed a small recorder.
He placed it on the counter.
Pressed play.
Static.
Then a young Vincent’s voice.
Maggie recognized it immediately.
“We meet at eleven forty-seven. Anthony comes alone.”
Another voice responded.
Luca.
“And afterward?”
“Afterward, it’s finished.”
The recording stopped.
Maggie stared.
Daniel said, “Vincent arranged the meeting that killed his brother.”
“No.”
“You heard him.”
“I heard eleven seconds.”
Daniel’s expression sharpened.
“Love makes intelligent people stupid.”
“You don't know me well enough to diagnose me.”
“You don't know Vincent well enough to defend him.”
Fair.
Painfully fair.
“Why give me this?”
“Because Luca wants the truth exposed.”
“You said you didn't work for Luca.”
“I don't.”
“Then who?”
Daniel glanced toward the street.
“Anthony.”
Maggie went still.
“Anthony is dead.”
“That’s what Vincent believes.”
The front window exploded.
Daniel threw himself down.
Maggie screamed.
Vincent’s men stormed through the rear entrance.
Daniel escaped through the alley.
Vincent arrived minutes later.
He found Maggie sitting behind the counter, clutching the recorder.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He crouched.
“What happened?”
She held up the recorder.
“Tell me about eleven forty-seven.”
Vincent froze.
That was enough.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
His eyes closed.
“I arranged the meeting.”
Her chest hurt.
“Why?”
“To get Anthony out.”
She frowned.
Vincent sat beside her.
“Our father had discovered Anthony was cooperating with federal investigators. He ordered me to bring him home.”
“And you did?”
“I warned Anthony instead. Luca agreed to take him across the border. Eleven forty-seven was the meeting time.”
“Then?”
“Anthony never arrived.”
“And you assumed Luca killed him.”
“Luca disappeared the same night.”
Maggie thought of Daniel.
“What if Anthony survived?”
Vincent looked at her sharply.
“Why would you ask that?”
She told him.
Every word.
For the first time since meeting him, Maggie watched Vincent lose control.
He stood.
“Anthony is alive?”
“Daniel claimed—”
Vincent grabbed his phone.
Maggie stopped him.
“Think.”
“He’s my brother.”
“And someone has spent weeks manipulating you with him.”
That landed.
Vincent lowered the phone.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
But somebody did.
Two days later, Maggie received an envelope.
Inside was a key.
A storage-unit number.
Vincent wanted to go alone.
Maggie refused.
They went together.
Unit 47 contained one chair.
One table.
And thirty-six dried red roses.
On the table sat an old phone.
Vincent approached it.
The screen illuminated.
One video file.
He pressed play.
Anthony Moretti appeared on-screen.
Older.
Alive.
Vincent stumbled backward.
Anthony looked directly into the camera.
“If you're watching this, Vincent, they finally brought Maggie into it.”
Maggie’s blood went cold.
Anthony continued.
“And if Maggie is standing beside you, then our father’s real killer already knows where you are.”
May you like
The storage-unit lights went out.
A lock snapped shut outside.
