Chapter 4 - THE BLUE BOX
At 2:13 a.m., Dr. Chen came out of surgery.
“Mara’s bleeding is controlled,” she said. “We had to deliver the baby.”
Dominic rose so quickly his chair scraped the floor.
“A girl,” Dr. Chen said. “She’s in the neonatal intensive care unit. She’s breathing with help. Mara is stable, but she hasn’t woken up yet.”
“A girl,” Dominic repeated.
He pictured a tiny face he had never seen. He pictured Mara holding her stomach alone, month after month.
“Can I see them?”
“You can see your daughter now. Mara will be moved to intensive care shortly.”
His phone rang before he reached the NICU. June.
“I’m safe,” she said. “The police got here. Whoever came into the apartment left through the fire stairs.”
“Did they take the box?”
“I took it with me.”
“Where are you?”
“At the precinct. Mara made me promise not to give it to anyone else.”
“Why?”
June was quiet for a moment. “Because the last time she tried to tell you the truth, Celeste answered your phone.”
Dominic stopped walking.
June continued, “Mara heard her voice. Then Celeste told her you already knew about the baby.”
“I didn’t.”
“I believe you now.”
There was a rustle of paper. “The box has bank transfers, photographs, and a thumb drive. Mara said she was going to make everything public after she found the person who authorized the payments.”
“Did she find them?”
“I don’t know. There’s a sealed envelope in here addressed to you.”
“Read it.”
“She wanted you to open it yourself.”
“June, Mara is unconscious. Our daughter is in intensive care. Read it.”
June broke the seal. He heard her unfold a page.
Her breath caught.
“What does it say?”
“It says, ‘Dominic, if anything happens to me, start with your father.’”
Dominic closed his eyes.
June kept reading. “‘Then ask him what happened to the accountant at Pier Nine.’”
A voice called June’s name in the background. She went silent.
“June?”
“The detective wants the box.”
“Give it to her. Tell her I’m coming.”
He ended the call and looked up.
Through the NICU window, a nurse adjusted a blanket around a baby small enough to fit inside both his hands.
Behind the nurse, on the wall above the bassinet, someone had taped a temporary card.
BABY GIRL VASCARI.
Dominic stepped inside.
May you like
As he approached, his phone vibrated again. A message from Rafe appeared.
I found the driver who hit Mara. He says your father paid him.
