Chương 3
I almost hung up.
Then Dominic said, “Lily told me about the letters.”
My eyes opened.
“She shouldn't have.”
“She said they were returned unopened.”
“They were.”
“My father didn't return correspondence unopened.”
“You can't know that.”
“I worked for him.”
“You were his son.”
“Those aren't the same thing.”
I stared at the envelopes.
For years, I had imagined Vincent seeing my name and refusing even to break the seal.
The image had hardened until it felt like memory.
Dominic's next words disturbed it.
“Ms. Carter, my father kept every letter anyone sent him.”
“That sounds sentimental.”
“He wasn't.”
“Then why?”
“He believed paper was leverage.”
Despite myself, I almost laughed.
That sounded more like the Vincent I remembered.
Dominic continued.
“If twenty-seven letters reached Moretti Group addressed directly to him, someone had to intercept every one.”
I touched the top envelope.
“And if someone did?”
“Then they were afraid of what you were telling him.”
A car door slammed outside.
I went to the window.
A black sedan had stopped at the curb.
Lily climbed out clutching her rabbit, with a woman from Moretti security beside her.
Relief hit so violently that I dropped the document.
“She's here.”
“I know.”
I was already running for the door when Dominic said my name.
I stopped.
“Anna.”
“What?”
“Don't throw anything away.”
My gaze fell to the paper lying faceup on the floor.
Vincent's signature was visible beneath my bare foot.
I bent and picked it up.
“Why?”
“Because Pike wasn't afraid I'd discover you were fired.”
A knock sounded.
Lily called, “Mom?”
I gripped the phone harder.
Dominic's voice dropped.
“He was afraid I'd discover why you were hired in the first place.”
I opened the door before I could decide whether Dominic's last sentence frightened me more than it angered me.
Lily stood in the hallway with her rabbit tucked under one arm and the guilty expression of a child who had begun to understand that bravery and disobedience could occupy the same body.
I dropped to my knees and pulled her against me.
For several seconds I couldn't speak.
I could feel the cold plastic buckle of her backpack pressing into my ribs.
“Mom, I'm sorry.”
I held her tighter.
“You took the subway alone.”
“I knew the stops.”
“That is not the point.”
“I didn't get lost.”
“That is also not the point.”
The security woman beside her politely studied the hallway ceiling.
Lily whispered into my shoulder, “Are you mad?”
“Yes.”
Her small body stiffened.
“And scared.”
She went quiet.
“And so relieved you're standing here that I don't know what to do with either of those things.”
Her arms tightened around my neck.
“I wanted him to fix it.”
“I know.”
“You were crying.”
“I know.”
“You said we might have to move.”
I closed my eyes.
That had been three nights ago, when I'd thought she was asleep.
Apparently six-year-olds heard everything adults desperately wished they hadn't.
Behind us, Dominic's voice came faintly from the phone where I'd left it on the floor.
“Anna?”
I turned.
The call was still connected.
Lily followed my eyes and brightened in a way I considered personally offensive.
“That's him.”
“Yes, unfortunately.”
“He's nicer when he's kneeling.”
The security woman coughed into her fist.
I walked over and picked up the phone.
“My daughter is home.”
“I heard.”
“You also heard that she is never entering your building alone again.”
“I support that policy.”
Something in his dry delivery irritated me because it almost sounded normal.
“Why was I hired?”
The woman from security looked toward the stairs.
I waved her away with a quiet thank-you.
She hesitated until Lily nodded at her as if granting permission, then left.
Dominic did not answer immediately.
“That,” I said, “was not a complicated question.”
“It is if I don't want to lie to you.”
“You've had three years to practice whatever your family does instead.”
“Anna.”
“Don't.”
“All right.”
I picked up Vincent's document from the floor and folded it along an old crease.
Lily watched me.
“Tomorrow morning,” Dominic said, “come to the office.”
“No.”
“Bring the letters.”
“No.”
“And whatever document you're looking at right now.”
My eyes went to the window.
“How do you know I'm looking at a document?”
“I don't.”
“You just said—”
“I guessed.”
I hated that he was good at it.
“I am not bringing anything into Moretti Plaza.”
“Then choose somewhere else.”
“I don't want to meet you.”
“Pike does.”
That shut me up.
Lily sat cross-legged beside the coffee table and began straightening the ears on her rabbit.
Dominic continued.
“His building access badge was used in the records room at 3:41 this afternoon.”
“After he disappeared?”
“After Marco went looking for him.”
“What was he doing there?”
“We don't know.”
“You have cameras.”
“In the corridor.”
“Not inside?”
“Compliance archives include employee medical records and protected files.”
I almost laughed at the absurdity of Moretti Group suddenly respecting privacy.
“Did he take something?”
“Three storage boxes are missing.”
My fingers went cold.
“Which boxes?”
“That's what we're determining.”
“No.”
“Anna?”
“No, you already know.”
Silence.
“You wouldn't be calling me if you didn't.”
I heard him breathe out.
Then, “One box contained executive correspondence from eleven to nine years ago.”
I sat down.
Lily looked up at me.
“What?”
I shook my head.
Dominic said, “The inventory references my father's office.”
The twenty-seven returned letters lay between my knees.
“Someone kept copies?”
“Possibly.”
“Of letters he supposedly never received?”
“Possibly.”
“You really like that word.”
“I like words I can defend later.”
“That must make family dinners fun.”
For the first time, there was something like a laugh on the other end.
It disappeared quickly.
“There's another box.”
I waited.
“Personnel exceptions.”
“I don't know what that means.”
“Employees hired outside standard recruitment procedures.”
I looked toward Lily, though she was now carefully making her rabbit bow to the spilled utility bills.
May you like
“My file?”
“Your employee number appears on the old index.”
