Chapter 4 - WHAT DANIEL CARTER LEFT BEHIND
Evelyn refused to hide until she saw her apartment.
Lorenzo refused to let her go alone.
They compromised by insulting each other for twenty minutes.
Cicero looked strangely normal when they arrived.
People walked dogs.
A kid rode a bike.
Someone argued over parking.
Meanwhile, Evelyn had been shot at twice in one night.
“This is ridiculous,” she muttered.
Lorenzo followed her upstairs.
“Your lock is terrible.”
“It works.”
He touched the knob.
The door opened.
Evelyn froze.
“I locked it.”
Lorenzo pulled her behind him.
Gun out.
He entered first.
The apartment had been destroyed.
Drawers dumped.
Mattress cut open.
Cabinets ripped from walls.
Evelyn stood in the doorway.
“My stuff.”
“They were searching.”
“For what?”
She looked around.
Then remembered.
A wooden cigar box.
Her father’s.
She ran toward the bedroom closet.
“Evelyn.”
She dropped to her knees.
The loose floorboard.
Still there.
She pried it up.
The cigar box remained untouched.
Lorenzo crouched beside her.
“You knew that was there?”
“My dad hid it.”
Inside were three poker chips, an old photograph, a cassette tape and a brass key.
Lorenzo picked up the picture.
Daniel Carter stood beside Antonio Moretti.
Behind them stood a much younger Celeste Vane.
And another man.
Lorenzo’s face changed.
“My uncle.”
“Who?”
“Salvatore Moretti.”
Evelyn inserted the cassette into an old player her mother had kept.
Static.
Then Daniel Carter’s voice.
“Evie, if you’re hearing this, I ran out of time.”
Her hand flew to her mouth.
Lorenzo went silent.
“I did things I’m ashamed of. I worked for men who hurt people. I told myself I was protecting you and your mother. Truth is, I was scared.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“Dad…”
“The black spade is not a gambling club. It’s a network. Vane money. Moretti muscle. Cops. Judges. Contractors. Everybody feeding everybody.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
“If Antonio Moretti finds you, run.”
Evelyn looked sharply at Lorenzo.
The tape continued.
“But if Salvatore Moretti finds you, don’t run.”
Static swallowed the next sentence.
Then Daniel’s voice returned.
“Because Salvatore knows where the ledger is.”
The tape clicked off.
Evelyn turned to Lorenzo.
“Your family ruined mine.”
He didn’t defend himself.
That made her angrier.
“You knew.”
“Not this.”
“Convenient.”
“I was nineteen.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m trying to find the same people you are.”
She held up the brass key.
“Then tell me what this opens.”
Lorenzo examined it.
An engraved number.
“A station locker.”
“Which station?”
He looked at the black spade poker chip.
“Not a station.”
“Then what?”
Lorenzo stood.
“An old casino boat on the river.”
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Lorenzo spun.
Too late.
A man stepped from the bathroom with a shotgun.
“Drop it.”
Evelyn stared at him.
She recognized his face.
Gilbert.
May you like
Her manager.
And he was pointing the gun directly at Lorenzo.
