Chapter 3 - The Photograph in the Envelope
Emma woke the following morning to find Damian standing beside the window, speaking quietly on the phone.
"No," he said. "Don't approach Anthony yet. If he knows we're investigating, he'll disappear."
He ended the call when he noticed her watching.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like I've been hit by a truck."
"That's understandable."
She noticed the photograph on her blanket.
"Where did that come from?"
Damian handed it to her.
"I found it here."
Emma recognized the picture immediately. She was seven years old, wearing a yellow dress and standing beside her mother, Catherine.
Catherine had died when Emma was nineteen.
At least, that was what Emma had always believed.
"What does the writing mean?" she asked.
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe someone broke into a hospital room just to leave a photograph?"
"No. I expect someone wanted you to find it."
Emma examined the picture.
On the reverse, beneath the threatening message, was a date.
October 14, 2007.
Her mother's disappearance had happened three days later.
Emma had spent years believing Catherine had died in a car accident. Her father had told her so before he passed away, leaving her with little more than a box of old photographs and a stack of unpaid bills.
She looked at Damian.
"Did your family know my mother?"
His silence answered before he did.
"Possibly."
"That's not good enough."
"My uncle handled certain matters involving Chicago businesses during that period. I'll ask him."
"Ask him what?"
"Why someone is using your mother's photograph to threaten you."
Emma gripped the picture.
"Don't make decisions about my family without me."
Damian studied her, then nodded.
"All right. We'll investigate it together."
It was the first time anyone in his world had offered her a choice.
Later that afternoon, Luca arrived with a small paper bag.
He approached the bed cautiously.
"I brought you something."
Inside was a plastic dinosaur with a missing tail.
"It's my favorite," he explained. "You can borrow it until you get better."
Emma smiled.
"I think that's the most important dinosaur in Chicago."
Luca climbed into the chair beside her.
"Papa said you saved my life."
"I just didn't want you to get hurt."
"My mama used to say brave people are the ones who help when nobody tells them to."
Emma's smile faded.
"Your mama sounds wonderful."
Luca looked down at the dinosaur.
"She died when I was little."
Damian, standing near the door, lowered his eyes.
Emma reached for the child's hand.
"I'm sorry."
Luca nodded solemnly.
Then he asked, "Will you come home with us when you get better?"
Damian opened his mouth, probably to explain that she had her own home.
But Emma answered first.
"Maybe I'll visit."
Luca brightened.
That evening, Marco arrived with a preliminary report.
The waiter had been identified as a former Vescari security contractor named Paul Renner. His apartment was empty, and his bank account had received a large deposit two days before the attack.
The transfer came from a company connected to Anthony Vescari.
Damian read the report twice.
Then he noticed another document beneath it.
Catherine Carter had once worked as a financial clerk for a Vescari-owned shipping company.
She had disappeared after reporting irregular payments involving a senior executive.
The executive had been Anthony.
Damian looked at Emma through the glass partition separating her room from the corridor.
The woman who had risked her life for his son might be the daughter of the only person who had ever threatened to expose his uncle.
And Anthony had just made one thing clear.
May you like
He wasn't trying to silence Emma because she had witnessed the attack.
He was trying to silence her because of what her mother had discovered.
