Chapter 5 - THE SISTER WHO SHOULDN’T BE THERE
Hannah called her sister fourteen times.
No answer.
Her name was Rachel Carter.
Thirty-one.
A nurse at a Queens urgent care center.
Divorced.
No criminal record.
No connection to the Morettis.
At least none Hannah knew about.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Hannah said.
Adrian watched her pace the study.
“She hates rich people. She thinks my job here is ridiculous. But murder?”
“Nobody said murder,” Marco replied.
“You’re all thinking it.”
Marco didn’t deny that.
Hannah called again.
Voicemail.
“Rachel, call me. Right now.”
She hung up.
Ellie sat at the desk drawing.
Adrian had given her paper and a box of colored pencils.
He noticed she was drawing a black car.
“Ellie.”
She looked up.
“What’s that?”
“The car.”
“What car?”
“The one the grandpa man got into.”
Marco came over.
“You saw it?”
“From the upstairs window.”
Hannah stared at her daughter.
“When?”
“After the ambulance people came.”
Ellie added two stick figures.
One beside the car.
One behind it.
Adrian crouched beside her.
“Did you see who was driving?”
Ellie shook her head.
“But there was a lady.”
Hannah’s face tightened.
“What lady?”
“She was crying.”
“Was it Aunt Rachel?”
Ellie frowned.
“No.”
Marco leaned closer.
“What did she look like?”
“Yellow hair.”
Rachel had dark brown hair.
Adrian glanced at Marco.
Another person.
The conspiracy was widening.
Then Hannah’s phone rang.
Rachel.
Hannah answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
Rachel was crying.
“Hannah, listen to me.”
“Why do you have Vincent Bellini’s coat?”
Silence.
“Rachel?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Know what?”
“I swear to God, I didn’t know who he was.”
Adrian motioned for Hannah to put the call on speaker.
She did.
Rachel’s breathing became uneven.
“A man came into the clinic two weeks ago. Said his name was Victor. He asked questions about allergic reactions.”
Adrian looked at Marco.
“What questions?” Hannah asked.
“Anaphylaxis. How fast it happens. What substances trigger it.”
“Why would you answer?”
“I’m a nurse! I thought his granddaughter had allergies.”
Ellie stopped drawing.
Rachel continued.
“Tonight he called me. Said he’d been attacked. I found him near the marina.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
“You had his coat.”
“He gave it to me because I was cold.”
Marco silently mouthed, Ask about the credit card.
“Why did you use his card?”
“He told me to. Said he’d lost his wallet except for one card and needed gas.”
Adrian took the phone.
“Rachel.”
She went silent.
“This is Adrian Moretti.”
“Oh my God.”
“Where are you?”
“No.”
“If Vincent is with you, your life is in danger.”
“He left.”
“When?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
“Where?”
“I dropped him near a warehouse in Red Hook.”
Marco was already signaling his men.
Adrian asked, “Did he say anything?”
Rachel hesitated.
“One thing.”
“What?”
“He kept repeating a name.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“What name?”
“Lily.”
Everything inside him stopped.
His dead daughter’s name.
Rachel continued, confused.
“He said, ‘Lily was never supposed to be there.’”
Adrian couldn’t move.
The car bomb.
Three years ago.
Elena.
Lily.
The fire.
Vincent had known something.
Maybe all along.
Then a loud bang came through the phone.
Rachel screamed.
The call cut off.
Hannah shouted her sister’s name.
No answer.
Adrian was already moving.
“Marco.”
“I’m on it.”
Hannah grabbed Adrian’s arm.
“What happened to her?”
Adrian looked at the dead phone.
“I don’t know.”
Another message appeared on Hannah’s screen.
A photograph.
Rachel tied to a chair.
May you like
Underneath were seven words:
BRING THE GIRL WHO SAW THE POISON.
