Chapter 5 - The Man With the Coat
“Don’t get out.”
Lorenzo heard Elena tell the driver the same thing.
Beyond her voice came the dull sound of rain against glass.
“Can you see his face?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know him?”
“He works at the gate.”
Rocco was already moving.
Lorenzo put the call on speaker.
“Elena, tell the driver to leave.”
“The man’s coming over.”
“Lock the doors.”
A tap sounded through the phone.
Then a muffled voice.
“Miss Hayes? Mr. Mercer sent me. Wrong hotel. There’s been a change.”
Elena didn’t answer.
The man knocked again.
“Mia forgot her coat.”
Lorenzo heard the child stir.
“My red one?”
Elena’s voice sharpened.
“Drive.”
The engine rose.
A second later, tires hissed against wet pavement.
Rocco checked his screen.
“The driver’s ours. Nico. He’s heading toward the hospital.”
“Tell him the main entrance. Bright lights. Cameras.”
Elena spoke over him.
“That’s where I told him to go.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes briefly.
“Good.”
“Stop sounding surprised that I can think.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
He let that stand.
By the time he reached the hospital, Elena and Mia were inside the emergency department waiting area.
Mia was curled beneath a vending machine advertisement, wrapped in Elena’s cardigan.
Elena stood when she saw him.
“Your security man knew.”
“Yes.”
“Your hotel plan. Your driver. Your people.”
“Yes.”
“Do you understand why I’m scared of your help?”
He stopped several feet away.
“I do now.”
A woman in gray scrubs approached from the coffee counter.
“Mr. Duca?”
Denise Alvarez. His mother’s visiting nurse.
Elena had called her before calling him.
Denise crossed her arms.
“They’re staying with my sister tonight. You don’t need the address.”
Rocco looked at Lorenzo.
Lorenzo nodded.
“Fine.”
Elena studied his face, waiting for the argument.
There wasn’t one.
He held out an envelope containing cash.
She refused it.
“Pay what you owe me through payroll.”
“I will.”
“And return my phone.”
“Rocco’s getting it.”
Denise led Mia toward the restroom.
Once they were out of hearing, Elena spoke.
“Your mother gave me something.”
“When?”
“Yesterday. After Vivien left.”
“What?”
“A key.”
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
He almost asked again.
Instead, he waited.
“She said one word,” Elena continued.
“Blue.”
Lorenzo remembered the old blue sewing box in his mother’s sitting room.
It had belonged to her mother.
He called the house.
A guard answered.
“Check my mother’s sitting room. The sewing box.”
There was a pause.
Then the guard returned.
“Sir, Miss Vale’s in there now.”
May you like
Lorenzo heard a door close in the background.
“She says she’s looking for something your mother lost.”
