Chapter 2 - The Man Lily Drew
Matteo reached the entrance before the door finished closing.
Two guards followed him.
Emma didn't.
She stood frozen on the driveway with Lily in her arms, staring at the place where Mrs. Russo had disappeared.
“Mommy,” Lily whispered.
Emma looked down.
Her daughter was trembling now.
The innocence was gone.
Not entirely.
But enough.
Emma hated whoever had taken it.
A guard approached.
“Ma'am, come with me.”
“Where?”
“Secure room.”
“No. Mrs. Russo—”
“The boss will handle it.”
Emma almost laughed.
The boss.
As if that explained everything.
Maybe here it did.
The guard guided her toward a side entrance.
Behind them, Vincenzo remained surrounded by three men.
He called after her.
“Emma.”
She stopped.
“Don't trust everything you see.”
A guard shoved him back.
Emma stared.
Vincenzo's eyes were urgent.
Not angry.
Almost afraid.
“For Lily's sake,” he said, “don't trust anyone.”
Then the guard moved Emma inside.
The secure room looked nothing like a bunker.
It resembled an expensive library.
Bookshelves.
Leather chairs.
A fireplace.
No windows.
One reinforced steel door.
Emma sat Lily on the sofa.
“Are we sleeping here?”
“No, baby.”
“Can I have my crayons?”
Emma almost cried.
“They're outside.”
Lily's lip trembled.
Emma sat beside her and pulled her close.
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I drew on his car.”
“Yes.”
“That's wrong.”
Under different circumstances, Emma might have laughed.
“Technically, yes.”
“Is the tall man mad?”
“I don't know.”
“I like him.”
Emma blinked.
“Why?”
“He listened.”
The answer hurt in a way Emma couldn't explain.
Lily's father had left before her second birthday.
Promises had been easier for him than responsibility.
Emma had learned not to speak badly about him in front of Lily.
Lily had learned not to ask when he was coming back.
Maybe being listened to felt unusual enough to matter.
The steel door opened.
Emma stood immediately.
Matteo entered.
There was a faint streak of blood across his cuff.
“Mrs. Russo?”
“Alive.”
Emma exhaled.
“What happened?”
“Someone hit her from behind.”
“Who?”
“We don't know.”
“You have guards everywhere.”
“Yes.”
“Cameras everywhere.”
“Yes.”
“And someone can attack a woman inside your house?”
Matteo looked at her.
Emma realized how accusing she sounded.
She didn't care.
“My daughter is here.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me what is happening.”
Matteo closed the door.
“Someone tampered with my vehicle this morning.”
Emma looked at Lily.
Matteo noticed.
“She's safe hearing this?”
“No.”
He nodded.
Then crouched beside Lily.
“Would you do me a favor?”
Lily looked at him.
“What?”
“There's a room next door with cartoons.”
Her eyes widened.
“And cookies.”
Emma stared at him.
Matteo shrugged.
“I was told children respond to cookies.”
Despite everything, Emma nearly smiled.
A female security officer escorted Lily through an adjoining door.
When it closed, Emma faced Matteo.
“Tell me.”
“The residue beneath my car came from an attachment bracket.”
“For what?”
“We don't know yet.”
“You do.”
Matteo paused.
“A device.”
Emma's throat tightened.
“A bomb?”
“Possibly.”
She covered her mouth.
“Lily was beside that car.”
“The device was gone before she drew on it.”
“That doesn't make me feel better.”
“It shouldn't.”
Matteo's honesty startled her.
He continued.
“Whoever installed it removed it.”
“Why?”
“That is what I need to know.”
Emma remembered the drawing.
“The second man.”
“Yes.”
“And Mrs. Russo?”
“Her security credentials were used to erase the footage.”
“She wouldn't do that.”
“She says she didn't.”
“You believe her?”
“I believe evidence.”
Emma folded her arms.
“And what does the evidence say?”
“That someone copied her access card.”
“Who could do that?”
“Anyone who had physical access to it.”
Emma thought.
Mrs. Russo hung her keys and badge inside the housekeeping office every afternoon.
Dozens of employees could pass through.
Matteo watched her.
“You thought of something.”
“Her badge isn't always with her.”
“Where?”
Emma told him.
He immediately sent a message.
Then looked back at her.
“What else did Lily say this morning?”
“Nothing.”
“Think.”
Emma tried.
She remembered breakfast.
Lily asking for strawberry jam.
The drive to the estate.
Mrs. Russo giving Lily paper and crayons.
Emma leaving for the dining room.
Then—
“She asked about a man.”
Matteo became still.
“What man?”
“When I checked on her around eight-fifteen, she asked why a man was wearing gloves when it wasn't cold.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her some people wear gloves for work.”
“Did she describe him?”
“No.”
“Anything else?”
Emma searched her memory.
Then remembered.
“She said he smelled funny.”
“What kind of funny?”
“I didn't ask.”
Matteo's jaw tightened.
Emma felt sick.
“I should have.”
“You had no reason to.”
“She was trying to tell me.”
“You didn't know.”
Emma looked at him.
For a man with his reputation, he sounded strangely gentle.
“What happens now?”
“We identify the second man.”
“And Vincenzo?”
“He stays downstairs.”
“You think he did it?”
Matteo didn't answer immediately.
“I think somebody wants me to think he did.”
That surprised her.
“Then why hold him?”
“Because somebody may want me to think that too.”
Emma stared.
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It is.”
For the first time, Matteo smiled.
It disappeared quickly.
A knock came.
One guard entered holding a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a folded piece of paper.
“We found this in the housekeeping office.”
Matteo took it.
“What?”
“Behind Mrs. Russo's locker.”
He unfolded the paper.
Emma watched his face.
“What does it say?”
He turned it around.
It wasn't writing.
It was a photograph.
Matteo beside his car.
A red circle had been drawn around his head.
Emma's stomach tightened.
Then she noticed something else.
There were three people in the background.
One was Vincenzo.
One was a guard.
The third was Emma.
“This was taken yesterday.”
Matteo looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“My uniform.”
She pointed.
“I spilled bleach on that apron yesterday afternoon. See the white spot?”
He examined it.
She was right.
Someone had photographed Matteo less than twenty-four hours ago.
And Emma had accidentally been included.
On the back were four words.
Matteo read them silently.
His face changed.
“What?”
He handed it to Emma.
REMOVE THE WOMAN AND CHILD.
Emma stopped breathing.
“No.”
Matteo took the photograph back.
“Who knows Lily is your daughter?”
“Everyone on staff.”
“Who knows she was here today?”
“Almost nobody. Mrs. Russo. The kitchen staff. Maybe two maids.”
“Vincenzo?”
“I don't know.”
Matteo opened the adjoining door.
Lily was sitting on a rug watching a cartoon.
Safe.
For now.
Emma's voice shook.
“Why would anyone care about us?”
Matteo looked at the photograph.
“Maybe because Lily saw something.”
“But this was taken yesterday. She hadn't seen anything yet.”
He looked at her.
That realization was worse.
If the photograph existed before Lily witnessed the man beneath the car, then the threat against Emma and Lily had begun for another reason.
“What do I have to do with this?”
“I intend to find out.”
A guard entered again.
This time he looked disturbed.
“Boss, Mrs. Russo is awake.”
“Good.”
“She remembered who was in the housekeeping office yesterday.”
“Who?”
The guard glanced at Emma.
“She says it was Emma.”
Emma stared at him.
“What?”
Matteo said nothing.
“I wasn't there.”
“Mrs. Russo says she saw you.”
“She is wrong.”
“She specifically remembers you taking her badge.”
Emma stepped backward.
“No.”
Matteo's expression became unreadable.
“Where were you yesterday at four-twenty?”
“Cleaning the east guest suite.”
“Anyone with you?”
“No.”
Emma understood immediately how bad that sounded.
Matteo turned toward the guard.
“Check cameras.”
“Already did.”
“And?”
The guard hesitated.
“The east hallway footage is missing.”
Emma felt the room tilt.
“No.”
Matteo looked at her.
“Someone is framing me.”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly?”
“I don't make promises before I have facts.”
She pointed toward Lily.
“Then get them.”
Matteo held her gaze.
“I will.”
The steel door suddenly unlocked.
Nobody had touched it.
Matteo turned.
The guard reached for his weapon.
The door opened two inches.
A white envelope slid through the gap.
Then the door slammed shut.
Matteo picked up the envelope.
His name was written across the front.
Inside was a single photograph.
Lily asleep in Emma's apartment.
Taken through her bedroom window.
On the back, someone had written:
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THE CAR EXPLODE.
And beneath that was a time.
May you like
11:30 P.M.
Tonight.
