Chapter 2 - The Clock in the Locker
Everyone in the great hall fell silent when Lorenzo entered carrying the maid’s daughter. Renata stared at Emilia in horror, but Matteo Salvi stared at the child as if she had returned from the dead.
That single expression told Lorenzo more than a confession would have.
“Untie Renata,” he ordered.
Neither guard moved immediately.
Agnes Carbone cleared her throat. “Mr. Duca, the clock was discovered in her locker. We followed household security procedure.”
Lorenzo looked at the guards.
“I said untie her.”
They obeyed.
Renata pulled her hands free and hurried forward, but stopped when Pino placed himself between her and Lorenzo. The dog did not growl. He merely watched.
“Pino,” Emilia whispered. “That’s my mommy.”
The Doberman stepped aside at once.
Renata took Emilia from Lorenzo and held her tightly. She kissed the child’s hair, cheeks, and forehead while struggling to control her tears.
“I told you to stay in the laundry room.”
“The bad man found me.”
Renata’s head snapped up.
Across the hall, Matteo took one step backward.
Lorenzo removed his suit jacket and handed it to a nearby servant. Mud and wet leaves stained one knee of his trousers, but he seemed unaware of them.
“Lock the gates,” he said.
Vittorio’s expression changed. “Lorenzo, surely that is unnecessary.”
“No one leaves.”
“We have business associates departing for the city.”
“Then they’ll be delayed.”
Vittorio approached him. At sixty-three, he possessed the composed authority of a man accustomed to influencing powerful people. He had served Lorenzo’s father and had spent years presenting himself as a second parent after the old man’s death.
“Think carefully,” Vittorio said. “You are detaining guests over the word of a frightened child.”
“I haven’t said what the child told me.”
“You don’t need to. Your behavior makes it obvious.”
Lorenzo studied him.
Vittorio had always been skilled at appearing helpful while collecting information. But this time he had revealed too much.
Agnes held out the clock. “I personally found this in Renata’s locker.”
“Who told you to search it?”
“A written complaint was left in my office.”
“Where is it?”
“I threw it away.”
“Find it.”
“The waste was collected this morning.”
“Then bring me the person who collected it.”
Agnes looked uncomfortable. “That seems excessive.”
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“A family heirloom vanished from my private library, crossed three secured corridors, entered the servants’ wing, and appeared inside the locker of a woman who has never stolen a dollar from this house. Excessive is the only appropriate response.”
Renata lowered her eyes. “Mr. Duca, I swear—”
“I know.”
She looked up in surprise.
Matteo gave an uneasy laugh. “You know? Because a toddler told you?”
Lorenzo turned toward him.
There it was again—the mistake of a frightened man. Matteo had mentioned the child’s age and statement without anyone explaining either.
Emilia hid her face against her mother.
Pino moved half a step toward Matteo.
Matteo’s smile disappeared.
Lorenzo spoke quietly. “Why are you concerned about what she told me?”
“I’m not.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“Because this display is absurd.”
Vittorio placed a restraining hand on his nephew’s arm. “Matteo.”
It was meant as a warning, but Lorenzo heard the fear inside it.
He ordered everyone into the library.
The room smelled of old leather and wood smoke. An empty space remained on the mantel where the clock had stood. Lorenzo positioned Renata and Emilia near the fireplace. Pino lay at their feet.
Agnes placed the recovered clock on the center table.
“Who entered this room today?” Lorenzo asked.
Agnes consulted the household schedule. “I did. Renata cleaned the fireplace at seven. Two footmen delivered firewood. Mr. Vittorio and Mr. Matteo waited here before your meeting.”
Vittorio’s jaw tightened.
Lorenzo looked at the security camera mounted above the door.
“Bring the footage.”
His security chief, Carlo Vieri, did not move.
Lorenzo slowly turned toward him.
Carlo was a former military officer who had supervised the mansion’s security for six years. Loyalty had always seemed to define him. Now sweat glistened near his temple.
“The system experienced an interruption,” Carlo said.
“When?”
“Between nine twelve and nine forty.”
“The clock disappeared during that period?”
“We believe so.”
“And the camera outside the servants’ lockers?”
“The same interruption affected the eastern network.”
Lorenzo glanced at the antique clock on the far wall. “How convenient.”
“It may have been a technical failure.”
“May have been?”
Carlo swallowed.
Lorenzo walked to the desk and pressed a concealed button beneath its edge. A section of bookcase slid open, revealing a smaller private monitoring system.
Only Lorenzo and his late father had known it existed.
Carlo’s face collapsed.
“This house has two security networks,” Lorenzo said. “One protects the mansion. The other protects me from the people protecting the mansion.”
He activated the screen.
Footage appeared from a hidden camera inside the library. At 9:17, Matteo entered. He removed the jeweled clock from the mantel and wrapped it inside a gray cloth.
At 9:21, a second figure appeared.
Vittorio.
No one in the room breathed.
Vittorio did not touch the clock. Instead, he stood at the doorway while Matteo carried it out.
The next recording showed Matteo entering the service corridor. He stopped at Renata’s locker and placed the clock inside.
Then he turned.
At the far end of the hallway stood Emilia, holding her damaged rabbit.
Matteo hurried toward her. The recording had no sound, but his posture was threatening. He bent down, gripped the rabbit by one ear, and spoke directly into her face.
Renata covered her mouth.
Pino rose, staring at the screen as if he understood.
Lorenzo shut off the footage.
Matteo backed toward the door. “It isn’t what it looks like.”
“It looks like you framed an innocent woman and threatened her child.”
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
Matteo glanced at his uncle.
Vittorio’s expression warned him to remain silent.
Lorenzo saw the exchange.
He also noticed something else in the footage. Before leaving the library, Matteo had opened the clock’s rear panel and removed a small object.
“What was inside the clock?” Lorenzo asked.
Matteo’s eyes widened.
Agnes whispered, “Inside?”
Lorenzo picked up the heirloom and examined it. The rear latch showed fresh scratches. He opened the panel.
The clock’s mechanism was intact, but an empty rectangular space had been carved into the wooden backing.
Large enough to conceal a memory card.
Vittorio moved first.
He grabbed Emilia from behind.
Renata screamed.
Pino launched to his feet, but Lorenzo held up one hand. The dog stopped, muscles trembling.
Vittorio pressed a small knife beneath Emilia’s chin.
The child went silent from shock.
“Open the garden doors,” Vittorio ordered.
Lorenzo’s face became expressionless.
“You won’t make it through the gate.”
“Perhaps not. But she won’t make it across this room.”
Renata sobbed, pleading with him not to hurt her daughter.
Matteo stared at his uncle in disbelief. “You said no one would get hurt.”
Vittorio’s voice sharpened. “Be quiet.”
Lorenzo looked at Emilia.
Her eyes found his.
He remembered her fingers settling into his open palm.
No one is going to hurt your mother, he had promised.
He had not realized he would also need to save the child from the man who had helped raise him.
“Emilia,” Lorenzo said calmly, “do you trust Pino?”
Vittorio tightened his grip.
The girl gave the smallest nod.
Lorenzo looked down at his dog.
“Pino. Home.”
May you like
The command had always meant one thing: protect what belonged to Lorenzo.
The Doberman moved.
