Chapter 4 - The Photograph in Derek's Safe
Marco moved first.
He shoved Penny behind him.
The bedroom door opened.
Empty.
A phone lay on the bed playing a recording of Derek's voice.
Penny stared.
Someone had wanted them frightened.
Or distracted.
Marco searched the apartment.
No intruder.
But the bedroom window was open.
Penny hadn't left it that way.
She looked at the key.
"317."
Marco exhaled.
"It's a safe-deposit box."
"How do you know?"
"Because Lorenzo's father used the same numbering system."
Penny called Lorenzo herself.
"Meet us at the bank."
The box contained no money.
It contained photographs.
Dozens.
Elaine Brooks beside Lorenzo's father.
Elaine with Marco.
Elaine outside Pier Nine.
And one photograph that made Lorenzo sit down when he arrived.
A twenty-year-old Lorenzo stood beside Elaine.
He looked angry.
She looked terrified.
Penny turned it over.
Lorenzo — forgive him someday.
Penny stared at him.
"What did you do?"
Lorenzo didn't defend himself.
"Something unforgivable."
"Try me."
His eyes remained on the photograph.
"My father believed your mother had stolen financial records. He ordered me to bring her to Pier Nine."
"You kidnapped my mother?"
"I was twenty-two."
"That isn't an answer."
"No."
His voice hardened against himself.
"I took her there."
Penny's stomach twisted.
"What happened?"
"My father interrogated her. I discovered she hadn't stolen anything."
"And?"
"I helped her escape."
Penny remembered the note.
Trust the man who admits what he did.
"You were the man."
"Possibly."
"Who loved her?"
Lorenzo looked away.
"No."
That meant someone else was.
They searched the remaining contents.
At the bottom was an address.
Derek's address from before Penny met him.
Marco frowned.
"Coincidence?"
"There aren't many left," Lorenzo said.
They drove there.
The property was supposedly vacant.
It wasn't.
Fresh tire marks crossed the driveway.
Inside they found a hidden office.
A safe stood behind a framed photograph.
Penny knew Derek's favorite numbers.
His birthday failed.
Their anniversary failed.
Then she tried her own birthday.
Click.
Her skin crawled.
Inside were files.
Photographs of Penny.
Copies of Elaine's records.
Moretti business documents.
And payments.
Derek had been receiving money for years.
"From whom?" Penny whispered.
Marco examined the account numbers.
"Shell companies."
Lorenzo found another photograph.
Derek stood beside an older man.
The older man's face had been scratched out.
Penny turned it over.
One word.
FATHER.
Her phone vibrated.
DEREK.
She answered.
"What?"
His voice was strangely calm.
"You found the safe."
Penny's blood chilled.
"Where are you?"
"Closer than you think."
"Why do you have photographs of my mother?"
Silence.
Then Derek laughed softly.
"Because you were never my girlfriend by accident."
Penny couldn't speak.
"You think I met you at Rachel's party because fate wanted us together?"
His voice became colder.
"I was paid to get close to you."
"By who?"
"Ask your new friend Lorenzo."
The call ended.
Penny turned toward him.
Before she could speak, Lorenzo's phone rang.
Marco looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
Lorenzo answered.
A woman's voice said one sentence.
May you like
"Tell Penny her mother is ready to come home."
Then someone knocked on the front door.
