Chapter 5 - SOMEONE AT THE DOOR
Maria heard the knock at 5:41 a.m.
Three slow taps.
She was already awake.
She had not slept.
Matteo lay curled beneath a blanket on the couch because he refused to sleep alone after seeing her cry.
The knock came again.
Maria looked through the peephole.
A man in a dark jacket stood outside.
She did not recognize him.
“Who is it?”
“Building maintenance.”
“At five in the morning?”
“Emergency gas inspection.”
Maria’s stomach tightened.
There had been no smell of gas.
She grabbed her phone.
No signal.
Strange.
She moved toward the bedroom window.
A black sedan sat across the street.
Engine running.
“Mama?”
Matteo sat up.
Maria put one finger to her lips.
The doorknob turned.
Someone was trying a key.
Her blood went cold.
Maria rushed to the kitchen.
She grabbed the heaviest thing she could find.
A cast-iron skillet.
The lock clicked.
The door opened two inches.
A chain stopped it.
A gloved hand appeared through the gap.
Maria swung.
The skillet smashed into the hand.
The man cursed.
She slammed the door and locked it.
“Matteo, shoes.”
He stared at her.
“Now!”
She grabbed coats.
Her phone suddenly regained signal.
She texted Richard.
MR. WHITFIELD, SOMEONE IS OUTSIDE MY APARTMENT.
Then she called 911.
Before the operator answered, glass shattered in the bedroom.
Maria screamed.
“Go!”
She grabbed Matteo.
They ran into the hallway.
The apartment door shook behind them.
Someone kicked it.
Once.
Twice.
Maria reached the stairwell.
A second man appeared below.
She stopped.
He started climbing.
Maria turned upward.
Fourth floor.
Fifth.
Roof access.
Locked.
Matteo began crying.
“Mama!”
“I’ve got you.”
The first man entered the stairwell below them.
Maria looked around.
No escape.
Then a door opened on the fifth floor.
Mrs. Bernstein, a seventy-three-year-old widow, poked her head out.
“What in God’s name—”
“Call the police!”
Maria shoved Matteo toward her.
“Take him.”
“No!”
Matteo screamed.
“Mama!”
Maria pushed him inside.
“Lock the door!”
Mrs. Bernstein pulled him in.
The door slammed.
Maria turned.
The first man reached the landing.
He smiled.
“Morning.”
Maria raised the skillet.
“You picked the wrong apartment.”
He laughed.
“You’re a maid.”
Maria swung.
He ducked.
Grabbed her wrist.
Maria kneed him between the legs.
He folded.
She ran.
The second man grabbed her coat.
Fabric ripped.
Maria slammed her elbow backward.
He cursed.
Then police sirens screamed outside.
Both men froze.
Maria smiled through tears.
“Guess housekeeping called backup.”
They ran down the stairs.
Police entered the lobby seconds later.
Maria rushed to Mrs. Bernstein’s apartment.
Matteo flew into her arms.
“Mama!”
“I’m here.”
She squeezed him until he complained.
An officer approached.
“Ma’am, do you know who those men were?”
“No.”
“Any reason someone would target you?”
Maria thought of Diane.
The bracelet.
Richard’s strange reaction.
Then she remembered something else.
Three days earlier.
She had been cleaning Richard’s home office.
A blue folder lay open on the desk.
Zurich.
Singapore.
Transfers.
And a signature she recognized because she had watched Richard sign Christmas bonuses every December.
The signature on those documents looked right.
But the date did not.
Richard had been in Toronto.
Maria looked at the officer.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She whispered, “Because I think I saw something I wasn’t supposed to see.”
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Maria answered.
“Hello?”
Richard’s voice came through.
“Maria, listen carefully.”
She heard something strange in the background.
A man’s voice.
Then Richard said, very slowly, “Do not come to my house.”
The call disconnected.
Maria stared at the phone.
May you like
Because beneath Richard’s words, she had heard another sound.
A gun being cocked.
