Chapter 4 - What My Father Left Behind
The number stamped into the key was 214.
“Your father rented that unit,” Mom said.
My father had been dead for three years.
A heart attack in the parking lot behind the auto shop where he worked. That was what the hospital had told us.
That was what I had repeated whenever someone asked.
Luca looked at her.
“What was his name?”
“Daniel Miller.”
Something changed in his face.
“Danny?”
Mom nodded.
“People at the garage called him that.”
Luca stared down at the key.
“Your husband serviced my cars.”
I felt the room tilt.
My father never discussed his customers.
He came home smelling of motor oil, ate whatever Mom had kept warm, and asked whether I had checked the tires on my little Honda.
“Was he working for you when you crashed?” I asked.
“Yes.”
My mother’s eyes filled.
“He came home upset that night.”
“The night of my accident?”
“He said a car had left before he signed off on it. He kept calling somebody.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Luca rubbed a hand over his mouth.
I had never seen him do that.
“Your father called my office twice,” he said. “I was told he wanted an overdue invoice paid.”
“Dad hated asking people for money.”
“I know that now.”
I pulled my hand away from Mom’s.
“Why did Michael have his key?”
“Because your father gave him something,” Luca said. “And Michael kept it.”
A noise came from the hall.
Frank Rinaldi stood in the doorway.
Broad shoulders. Gray suit. Familiar expression of mild annoyance.
“Nico took a vehicle without logging it.”
“I sent him,” Luca said.
Frank’s gaze moved to my mother.
Then the key.
It lasted less than a second.
I saw it anyway.
“We have a situation at the front gate,” he said. “You should come upstairs to the security room.”
Luca didn’t move.
“What situation?”
“Press. Somebody called about the dinner.”
“Show me the camera.”
Frank hesitated.
Nico stepped into the hall behind him.
“Funny,” Nico said. “Gate looks empty on my phone.”
Frank’s right hand drifted toward his jacket.
“Keep your hands where I can see them,” Luca said.
Frank stopped.
Nobody breathed.
Then Michael appeared behind Nico, pale and sweating.
“Don’t let him leave.”
Frank smiled without looking back.
May you like
Michael pointed at him.
“That’s the man who delivered your car.”
