Chương 9
The absurdity of it irritated Roman.
He put the phone down.
Ten minutes later, someone knocked softly on the office door.
It was not Sabrina.
Roman opened it and found a thin man in work pants carrying a leather tool case.
“Mr. Marino?”
“Luis sent you?”
The man nodded.
“Caleb.”
Roman led him to the library.
Caleb did not ask questions.
He examined the safe with a flashlight, then with a small handheld sensor.
He swabbed the metal lip where Sabrina had placed the device.
After five minutes, he stood.
“Someone used a magnetic contact reader here recently.”
Roman folded his arms.
“What would it collect?”
“Depends on the model.”
“Best case.”
“Keypad vibration patterns.”
“Worst?”
“Residual electromagnetic changes from the lock mechanism.”
Roman stared at him.
“In English.”
Caleb nodded toward the keypad.
“If the person already knows roughly how the safe operates, they may be trying to reconstruct combinations or confirm when the mechanism cycles.”
“She opened it without trouble.”
“Then maybe she wasn’t reading the safe.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“What else?”
Caleb pointed to the metal frame.
“Some devices can confirm whether a compartment has been opened since the last check.”
Roman felt the implications settle.
“So she could have been checking whether someone had accessed it.”
“Yes.”
“Would the device leave data behind?”
“Not here.”
“On the device?”
“Probably.”
“Can you recover it?”
“If you bring me the device.”
Roman gave him a flat look.
Caleb shrugged.
“You asked.”
Roman escorted him out through the service hall.
By the time he returned to the office, Luis was calling.
“She moved.”
“Where?”
“Back north.”
“Home?”
“Not yet.”
“Who did she meet?”
“No one.”
Roman stopped.
“She sat alone in a diner for thirty minutes?”
“She drank coffee.”
“That’s it?”
“My guy had eyes on the entrance the entire time.”
Roman looked at the desk.
“Bathroom?”
“Couldn’t see inside, obviously.”
“How long?”
“Six minutes.”
Roman’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“Back exit?”
“Checking.”
A pause.
Then Luis swore.
“What?”
“The diner has a rear service door.”
Roman stood.
“Camera?”
“Probably.”
“Get it.”
“Legally?”
“As legally as you can.”
Luis laughed once.
“You always say that when you mean something else.”
“Tonight I mean it.”
Roman ended the call.
Another message appeared before he could set the phone down.
Unknown number.
No photograph this time.
Just text.
You were told to ask your wife what she stole.
Roman stared at the words.
Then another message came.
Now ask what your father stole from Daniel Cross.
Roman did not move.
A third message arrived.
This one contained an attachment.
A photograph of a ledger page.
Handwritten columns.
Dates.
Account numbers.
Initials.
Roman recognized his father’s handwriting in the margin.
Beside one transfer was a notation.
R.M. settlement reserve.
Roman enlarged the image.
The transfer amount was 1.8 million dollars.
The date was fifteen years earlier.
Three days after Roman’s younger brother Gabriel had been arrested on a weapons charge that vanished before arraignment.
Roman’s stomach tightened.
Another line appeared beneath the photograph.
Daniel copied the wrong ledger.
Your father spent years making sure he could never prove what he saw.
Roman read the message twice.
Then the final text arrived.
Elena found the pages he missed.
Roman’s phone rang.
It was Vivien.
He answered immediately.
“Mom?”
Her voice was tight.
“We’re going to the hospital.”
Roman was already reaching for his coat.
“What happened?”
“Elena’s bleeding.”
Every calculation collapsed into one brutal fact.
“I’m coming.”
“Roman, wait.”
“No.”
“She said not to.”
“I don’t care.”
He was halfway to the door.
“Roman.”
Vivien’s voice cracked hard enough to stop him.
“There’s a car outside.”
He froze.
“What car?”
“Black SUV.”
“Plate?”
“I can’t see it.”
“Stay inside.”
“We are inside.”
Roman called Luis on the second phone while keeping Vivien on the first.
“Get your team to the entrance now.”
“They’re already moving.”
Roman heard a door slam through Vivien’s line.
Then Elena’s voice in the background.
Low.
Strained.
“Vivien, we have to go.”
Roman gripped the phone.
“Mom, listen to me.”
“I am.”
“Do not use your car.”
“What?”
“Luis has people outside.”
“Elena won’t get into a stranger’s vehicle.”
“Tell her they’re mine.”
A bitter laugh came faintly through the phone.
Elena.
“Of course they are.”
Even frightened, even in pain, she sounded like herself.
Roman closed his eyes for one second.
“Elena.”
Silence.
Then her voice came closer.
“You’re on speaker.”
“I know.”
“No, you didn’t.”
He almost said something defensive.
He stopped himself.
“You were right about Sabrina.”
Another contraction seemed to catch Elena because her breathing changed before she answered.
“That’s not helpful right now.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t make this about you.”
“I’m not.”
“You are a little.”
Vivien said, “Both of you, not now.”
For one impossible second, the normality of his mother scolding them almost broke him.
Roman swallowed.
“Luis’s team will get you out.”
Elena breathed slowly.
Then said, “Roman.”
“I’m here.”
“The documents are not with me.”
“I know.”
“If something happens—”
“Don’t.”
Her voice sharpened.
“Do not do that.”
He went silent.
“If something happens to me, Natalie has instructions.”
“Elena.”
“Listen.”
Roman pressed his fist against the desk.
“The contracts are safe, but they aren’t the important part anymore.”
“What is?”
“The ledger pages.”
Roman stared at the photograph on his screen.
“I just received one.”
Elena went silent.
When she spoke again, fear had replaced irritation.
“From who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Roman.”
“I don’t know.”
Vivien said something in the background.
A car horn sounded outside.
Then Luis called through the second phone.
His voice was urgent.
“My team has them.”
Roman switched attention between both calls.
“Is the SUV still there?”
“Yes.”
“Did it move?”
“No.”
“Get Elena out.”
“We are.”
Roman heard Elena breathing.
Then a man’s voice near Vivien.
“Mrs. Marino, this way.”
Elena said, “I’m not getting into that.”
Vivien snapped, “Elena, for once in your life, be difficult tomorrow.”
“I’m pregnant, not stupid.”
Roman closed his eyes.
May you like
“Get in the car.”
There was a pause.
