Chapter 8 - The Birthday Card
The detectives spoke with Sal in the study, with Mara beside him.
Nobody took him away.
Somehow, the waiting still felt like a punishment.
I sat on the bottom stair until he came out.
He looked smaller.
“Victor called it a retirement gift,” he said.
“When?”
“Last month.
He said Luca wanted it to be a surprise.”
Luca shut his eyes.
Sal had left the money untouched.
He’d planned to ask about it during their annual trip to Wisconsin.
Then Vanessa told him Luca wanted him gone.
A gift became bait.
A retirement became a confession.
By noon, Mara had requested the bank records and sent a preservation demand through Victor’s lawyer.
Those words sounded useful.
They didn’t make Sal stop staring at his hands.
I took his box into the kitchen and unpacked it.
Thermos.
Gloves.
Cap.
The framed photograph.
Underneath it, the sealed birthday card.
“Should I give this to him?” I asked.
Sal nodded.
“It’s late enough already.”
I found Luca alone in the dining room.
The engagement flowers had been removed.
Pale circles marked where the vases had stood.
He opened the card.
A small brass key dropped into his palm.
For a moment, he only stared.
Then he read what Sal had written.
“Your father asked me to give you this when you were ready to sell the old wagon.
I think he knew you never would.”
Luca looked toward the garage.
“The station wagon?”
Sal had followed me in.
“Your father put something in the little lockbox behind the rear panel.
Said you’d know what mattered when you found it.”
“When did he tell you?”
“The week before he died.”
Luca stood.
“Why didn’t you give me this sooner?”
Sal’s face tightened.
“I tried.
Twice.
Miss Bellini said you didn’t want gifts from employees.”
The three of us went to the garage.
Luca pulled the cover off the old station wagon.
Dust rose into the light.
He unlocked the rear door, found the panel, and worked the brass key into a narrow metal box.
Inside were a folded letter and a small memory card in a plastic sleeve.
Across the letter, his father had written:
ASK SAL ABOUT THE AFTERNOON ADRIAN CAME.
Luca read it.
Then every light in the garage went out.
May you like
A door slammed at the far end.
We were no longer alone.
