Chapter 9 - The People Outside
The first officer crawled beneath the shutter with his weapon raised.
I put both hands where he could see them.
Emma clung to my waist.
“Please,” I said. “She’s three.”
“Stay still.”
“I am.”
A second officer pulled Marco away from Lorenzo.
Rosa began talking all at once.
“He shot at us. That man. He had a gun. It’s under the cabinet.”
An officer found it.
The room changed.
Not enough to feel safe.
Enough to breathe.
Paramedics reached Lorenzo.
He caught my sleeve as they cut his shirt.
“Don’t give it to her.”
“The drive?”
His eyes moved toward the shutter.
Vittoria ducked beneath it.
She looked horrified.
Perfectly horrified.
“Oh, Lorenzo.”
She reached for him.
He recoiled.
“Keep her away.”
She froze.
For the first time, everyone saw it.
The little break in her performance.
Then she turned to an officer.
“He’s confused. He’s lost blood.”
A woman in a raincoat entered behind her and showed her badge.
“Detective Reyes. Nobody touches him until the medics are finished.”
Vittoria straightened.
“This is my home.”
“Then you can tell me where the cameras are.”
I pulled the drive from my pocket.
Vittoria’s eyes dropped to it.
I saw calculation.
Not grief.
Not concern.
Calculation.
“I took this from the room beneath the shed,” I told Reyes. “There’s a recording.”
“Give it to me.”
I hesitated.
She noticed.
“I’ll log it in front of you.”
I handed it over with the ledger.
Reyes called another officer closer and spoke each item aloud while he wrote.
Only then did my knees begin to shake.
Emma reached toward the stretcher.
“Rabbit.”
The stuffed animal lay beneath Lorenzo’s elbow, dark with blood.
A paramedic picked it up.
I shook my head.
“Leave it with him.”
Emma nodded seriously.
“He gets scared.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
Something in his face broke open.
Then they wheeled him outside.
Reyes crouched in front of me.
“You mentioned your husband.”
“Daniel Bell.”
Before she could reply, Vittoria spoke behind her.
“Nora has struggled since his accident.”
Reyes stood.
“What do you know about the accident?”
Vittoria’s answer came too quickly.
May you like
“Nothing.”
Then Rosa said, “That’s strange. You paid to have his truck destroyed.”
