Chapter 4 - THE EMPTY BED
Nell reached the care home before Carmine’s car had fully stopped.
She jumped out and ran.
“Nell!”
She ignored him.
The front entrance was crowded with staff and police officers.
A nurse recognized her.
“Oh, God. Eleanor—”
“Where’s my father?”
The nurse grabbed her arms.
“They took him.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
“How does a man in a wheelchair just disappear?”
The nurse started crying.
“One man said he was with a medical transport company. He had paperwork.”
“What paperwork?”
“It looked real.”
Nell pulled away.
“You didn’t call me?”
“The phone number on the authorization wasn’t yours.”
Her face changed.
“What number?”
A police officer approached.
“Ma’am, we need you to calm down.”
Nell spun on him.
“My father was kidnapped and you want me calm?”
Carmine stepped between them.
“Show us the security footage.”
The officer frowned.
“And you are?”
“Someone who knows how quickly video systems accidentally stop working.”
Benny arrived behind him.
The officer looked from Carmine to Benny and decided not to argue.
Ten minutes later, they watched the footage.
A white medical van pulled into the rear entrance at 10:42 a.m.
Two men came inside.
Baseball caps.
Medical jackets.
One pushed Emmett Fontaine’s wheelchair.
The other walked behind him.
Nell leaned toward the monitor.
“Stop.”
Benny froze the frame.
“What?”
“That man.”
The second kidnapper had turned his face just enough for the camera.
Nell stared.
“I’ve seen him.”
“Where?”
“The bakery.”
Carmine looked at her.
“When?”
“The week before the fire.”
Her voice became quiet.
“He came in twice. Didn’t buy anything. Asked my dad what time we closed.”
Benny pulled out his phone.
“I’ll run the image.”
Nell stared at the frozen face.
Then she noticed something else.
“My father.”
“What?”
“He’s holding something.”
They zoomed in.
Emmett’s weak right hand was clenched around a small metal object.
A key.
Nell covered her mouth.
“I know that key.”
“To what?”
“Our old recipe cabinet.”
Carmine frowned.
“The bakery’s gone.”
“The cabinet isn’t.”
“Where is it?”
“My apartment.”
Everyone looked at her.
Nell’s breathing quickened.
“My father made me take it after the fire. He kept saying, ‘Keep the recipes safe.’ I thought he was confused.”
Carmine understood first.
“Maybe he wasn’t talking about recipes.”
They rushed back to the car.
Nell sat in silence the entire way.
When they reached her apartment, the front door was already open.
Carmine grabbed her arm.
“Behind me.”
“I live here.”
“And somebody else is inside.”
Benny drew his weapon.
They entered.
The place had been torn apart.
Cushions ripped open.
Drawers dumped.
Mattress slashed.
Nell ran toward the kitchen.
The old wooden cabinet sat against the wall.
Its doors hung open.
Empty.
“No.”
She dropped to her knees.
“They took it.”
Carmine examined the broken lock.
“Maybe not everything.”
Nell looked up.
He pointed to a thin wooden panel inside the cabinet.
A tiny gap ran along one edge.
Nell stared.
“I never noticed that.”
Benny pried it loose.
Behind it lay a single envelope.
Brown with age.
Nell picked it up.
Her father’s handwriting covered the front.
ELEANOR.
ONLY IF THEY COME BACK.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Four men stood in the alley behind Fontaine Bakery.
The picture had been taken at night.
One was Walter Doyle, the missing investigator.
One was the man from the nursing home footage.
One was Vincent Calder.
And the fourth man made Carmine stop breathing.
Nell looked at him.
“Who is that?”
May you like
Carmine stared at the face.
“My father.”
