Chapter 5 - The Man Ronaldo Trusted
Ronaldo opened the door.
Niko Ferraro sat behind the desk.
For twenty-two years, Niko had been almost family.
He had been there after Ronaldo buried his wife.
He had sat through the federal trial.
He had once spent three nights outside Ronaldo's hospital room after an attempt on his life.
Now he sat beside the old clock.
“Where is Elsa?”
Niko smiled.
“I don't know.”
Ronaldo entered.
Sal remained behind him.
Niko looked at Sal.
“So she managed to clear you.”
“Where is she?”
“I told you.”
Ronaldo placed Elsa's flash drive on the desk.
Niko's smile disappeared.
“Victor got careless.”
“Victor works for you.”
“Sometimes.”
“Did you take Elsa?”
“No.”
That answer came too quickly to be meaningless.
Ronaldo studied him.
“You didn't take her.”
“No.”
“You made her leave.”
Niko said nothing.
There it was.
Ronaldo walked closer.
“Why?”
“Because she found the ledger.”
“Eight million dollars?”
Niko laughed softly.
“You still think this is about money.”
He opened a drawer.
Sal shifted.
Niko removed no weapon.
Only a photograph.
He slid it across the desk.
Ronaldo picked it up.
Elsa stood outside a hospital.
The photograph was years old.
Beside her was a thin woman in a wheelchair.
Her mother.
On the other side stood a man Ronaldo recognized.
His attorney during the federal trial.
Ronaldo looked up.
“What is this?”
“Ask why Elsa owed $141,000.”
“Medical debt.”
“Yes.”
“For her mother.”
“Yes.”
Niko leaned back.
“And ask who paid the hospital before Elsa ever worked for you.”
Ronaldo's expression changed.
“What?”
“The debt wasn't $141,000 when she applied.”
Niko smiled.
“It was almost twice that.”
Someone had anonymously paid half.
Then Elsa had been offered an unusually well-paying secretary position.
Ronaldo remembered Beverly bringing him eleven applications.
He remembered choosing Elsa's file.
He had believed it was his choice.
“What are you saying?”
“Elsa didn't accidentally enter your life.”
Sal moved forward.
Niko raised one hand.
“Ask Beverly.”
Ronaldo called Bev.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Niko watched.
“You still don't understand.”
Ronaldo lowered the phone.
“Explain.”
“Elsa was supposed to get close enough to see your books.”
“For whom?”
Niko's eyes shifted toward the window.
“For someone who spent eleven years waiting for you to trust the wrong person.”
Ronaldo felt something cold move through him.
“Elsa knew?”
“At first? No.”
“And later?”
“She discovered it.”
“Who recruited her?”
Niko didn't answer.
Ronaldo stepped closer.
“Who?”
The fire alarm suddenly sounded.
Sal turned.
Smoke rolled beneath the hallway door.
Niko stood.
“That wasn't supposed to happen.”
For the first time, he looked frightened.
Ronaldo understood.
Niko wasn't the top of the chain.
Someone else was cleaning it.
They escaped down the service stairs.
By the time firefighters arrived, the office containing the clock was burning.
Niko disappeared in the confusion.
Bev was found unconscious in the parking garage.
Alive.
Beside her lay a broken phone.
The last outgoing call had been made to Elsa.
Thirty-one days after she vanished.
Ronaldo stared at the number.
“Trace it.”
Sal did.
The phone was active.
For the first time in a month, they had Elsa's location.
Calumet.
The same warehouse connected to the missing money.
Ronaldo drove there himself.
Sal followed.
When they arrived, Victor was already inside.
He stood among crates with several men.
“You shouldn't have come,” Victor said.
Ronaldo looked around.
“Where's Elsa?”
Victor frowned.
“Elsa?”
The surprise seemed genuine.
Then a warehouse door opened behind him.
Everyone turned.
A woman stepped inside.
White blouse.
Black skirt.
Blonde hair.
Thirty-one days missing.
Elsa looked directly at Ronaldo.
Then she saw someone behind him.
May you like
Her face changed.
“Ronaldo, get down!”
