Chapter 5 - What Daniel Hid
Sarah moved toward the building.
Vincent blocked her.
“No.”
“My husband left something.”
“And your daughter is standing right behind you.”
She stopped.
Emily was staring at them.
Sarah closed her eyes.
When she opened them, she turned back and gathered her daughter into her arms.
Vincent went to the fire captain.
He gave the apartment number and described the coat hanging inside the bedroom closet.
The captain made no promises.
They waited.
Sarah’s phone buzzed constantly.
Her manager asking why she hadn’t arrived for her shift.
A neighbor asking where to take donated clothes.
An unknown number calling three times.
She ignored that one.
Vincent stood several feet away, holding Emily’s jar.
Sarah watched him.
“You’re not buying your way out of this.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He looked at the blackened windows.
“Daniel came to me with concerns about Carlo’s accounts. I told him my uncle had kept our business alive for thirty years.”
“So you chose your uncle.”
“Yes.”
“And when money went missing?”
“I thought Daniel was covering his tracks.”
Sarah’s voice grew quiet.
“You trusted the man he warned you about.”
Vincent nodded.
She looked away before he could mistake her silence for forgiveness.
A firefighter approached with a scorched pillowcase.
“The bedroom wasn’t fully involved.”
Inside lay Daniel’s coat.
Wet.
Smoke-stained.
Still whole.
Sarah pushed her fingers into the torn lining.
The key dropped into her palm.
A narrow paper strip was wrapped around it.
She had never seen that before.
The firefighter must have loosened a seam when he handled the coat.
Sarah unfolded it carefully.
BELL. BLUE PIPE. ORIGINALS.
Underneath, in Daniel’s handwriting:
If I’m wrong, forgive me.
If I’m right, don’t trust the sale.
Vincent looked toward the building.
“Eleanor Bell owned this place.”
“She died three years ago,” Sarah said.
“Carlo handled several properties for her.”
Luca turned away.
This time, Vincent noticed.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Luca rubbed his mouth.
“Daniel didn’t steal that money.”
Sarah stepped closer.
“How long have you known?”
May you like
Luca looked at her, then at the little girl standing beside Marco.
“Since the night we took him.”
