Chapter 7 - The Key Under the Truck
Dante asked Beatrice to leave.
She looked offended.
“Surely you’re not going to interrogate a child.”
“No,” Marina said.
“We’re going to let him answer without an audience.”
After Beatrice walked away, Marina handed Miguel the truck.
“You don’t have to tell us everything right now.”
He looked at his father.
“Will Aunt Bea be mad?”
“I’ll handle Aunt Bea,” Dante said.
Miguel pulled at the loose seam inside a stuffed dinosaur.
A small brass key fell into his palm.
Dante stared at it.
“That door was supposed to stay unlocked.”
“What door?” Marina asked.
“The service exit off the west sitting room.
It leads to the garden.”
Miguel held the key tightly.
“Mom put it in my pocket before Rosa took us downstairs.
She said don’t lose it.”
Rosa was called in.
She sat before anyone asked her to.
“I remember.”
Dante looked at her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because the police asked whether I got the boys out.
I told them I did.
Nobody asked about a key.”
Her voice shook.
“Elena sent me to the front stairs with them.
She said she smelled something near the sitting room and wanted to check.”
Dante pressed his fingers against his mouth.
Marina kept her eyes on Miguel.
“Do you remember anything else?”
“Aunt Bea was yelling.”
“About what?”
He shook his head.
“That’s okay.”
“She told Mom to give it back.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
Dante stood so suddenly Rafael flinched.
He immediately sat again.
“I’m sorry.”
It was the first time Marina had heard him apologize to his children.
Later, away from the boys, Dante explained that the fire had been ruled an electrical accident.
An overloaded lamp cord.
Old wiring behind a wall.
Smoke spreading faster than anyone expected.
Elena had been found near the west service exit.
“The report said the heat jammed the door,” he said.
“Did anyone check the lock?”
“I thought they checked everything.”
His expression made Marina look away.
Here was a man feared across the city, discovering how little fear could protect.
Nico brought the old maintenance records after dinner.
One entry was dated two days before the fire.
SERVICE EXIT LOCK REPLACED.
Below it was a handwritten instruction.
EXTERIOR KEY ACCESS ONLY.
Marina looked up.
“Who approved this?”
May you like
Nico turned the page.
Beatrice’s signature sat at the bottom.
