Chương 9
“In exchange for what?”
“At first, deliveries.”
Anthony asked, “Deliveries of what?”
Teresa’s eyes went hard.
“Cash.”
Elena put the coffee on the windowsill before she crushed the cup.
“And later?”
“Later, your father discovered he was good at numbers.”
The nurse came around the corner carrying a paper cup and a syringe packet.
She stopped when she saw them occupying the corridor.
“Are we having another summit?”
Teresa moved aside.
The nurse looked at Elena.
“Your brother needs rest.”
“We’re leaving.”
“Good.”
She softened a little.
“He’ll be groggy after this.”
Elena nodded.
The nurse entered Nico’s room.
Anthony waited until the door swung nearly closed.
“Why is Elena’s tuition under Emilio’s name?”
Teresa looked at him.
“Because the reserve belonged to Emilio.”
“But he was dead.”
“Yes.”
“And somebody kept spending it.”
“Yes.”
“Who controlled it?”
Teresa did not answer.
Elena felt something cold settle beneath her ribs.
“Dad?”
Teresa looked at her.
“No.”
“Then who?”
The nurse stepped back into the hallway.
“Elena?”
She turned.
“Your brother wants you.”
Nico’s voice came from inside before she reached the door.
It was weaker now, blurred by whatever medication the nurse had given him.
“El.”
“I’m here.”
He lifted his phone.
The cracked screen glowed in his hand.
“I got a voicemail.”
“From Dad?”
Nico shook his head.
“Unknown number.”
Elena took the phone.
The voicemail was seven seconds long.
She pressed play.
For the first three seconds there was only movement, fabric brushing a microphone, and someone breathing too close to the phone.
Then her father’s voice came through.
“Elena, don’t come home.”
A hard sound followed, like something striking wood.
Her father inhaled sharply.
Then another voice, quieter and farther away, said, “Tell Teresa we found the original.”
Teresa reached for the phone, but Elena pulled it away.
“No.”
“Elena.”
“No more taking things out of my hands because you know what they mean.”
Nico blinked heavily from the bed.
“What original?”
Teresa’s face had gone still.
Anthony stepped closer.
“The original ledger?”
“There was never one ledger.”
“You heard Nico.”
“I heard him.”
“Then what did they find?”
Teresa looked at the open doorway, the nurse moving between beds beyond it, and an orderly pushing a yellow laundry cart down the corridor.
“Not here.”
Elena laughed once.
It came out ugly.
“My brother is in a hospital bed because somebody beat him for a box he hid under my apartment, my father is apparently being held by whoever sent us that recording, and you’re worried about privacy.”
“I’m worried about keeping you alive.”
“You’ve been doing a fantastic job.”
Nico murmured, “El.”
She regretted it before she turned.
Teresa did not defend herself.
That made it worse.
Anthony took the phone from Elena gently enough that she allowed it.
He replayed the voicemail with the speaker pressed close to his ear.
Then he played it again.
“What?”
Elena asked.
“There’s something behind them.”
“Like what?”
He raised one finger.
The message ended.
He replayed the last four seconds.
This time Elena heard it beneath her father’s voice and the impact against wood.
A metallic bell.
Two quick rings.
A pause.
Then another.
Teresa heard it too.
Her eyes narrowed.
Anthony said, “Door bell?”
“No.”
Teresa’s answer came immediately.
Elena looked at her.
“What is it?”
“The freight elevator.”
“Where?”
Teresa hesitated.
Anthony said, “We’re done with hesitation.”
She gave him a look that would have stopped most people.
He only waited.
“The Mulberry building.”
“The appliance shop?”
Elena asked.
Teresa nodded.
“The freight elevator has an old warning bell.”
Nico tried to push himself higher.
Pain stopped him halfway.
“Dad’s there.”
“Maybe,” Anthony said.
“He is.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I heard that stupid bell every day this week.”
Elena looked at him.
“You were working there?”
“Loading things.”
“For Calderone?”
Nico’s eyelids sagged.
“Dad said Calderone needed storage emptied before the lease inspection.”
“Why would Dad care?”
“Because he manages the property.”
Teresa’s head snapped toward him.
“He what?”
Nico looked almost pleased to finally know something she did not.
“Since last year.”
“For whom?”
“Calderone.”
Teresa swore.
The nurse appeared at the doorway.
“I’m beginning to think you people believe my warnings are decorative.”
Elena stepped toward her.
“We have to leave.”
“You can.”
She pointed at Nico.
“He can’t.”
Nico said, “I’m coming.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I know where the shop is.”
“So does Grandma.”
“I know where Dad keeps the keys.”
The nurse stared at him.
“You are not leaving this bed unless the building is on fire.”
Nico looked at Elena.
“His keys are in the blue toolbox under the front counter.”
Anthony said, “We’re not breaking into a building.”
Elena turned on him.
“My father just told me not to come home while somebody stood next to him.”
“Which is exactly why we don’t go charging into the last place we think he might be.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Police.”
Teresa said, “No.”
Elena and Anthony answered together.
“Yes.”
Teresa’s mouth tightened.
“You don’t understand what that could expose.”
“My concern for that is becoming microscopic.”
“If police enter that building and find those records—”
“My father might be tied to a chair.”
“And if they find what Emilio left behind, your father may spend the next ten years explaining why his fingerprints are on thirty years of financial records.”
Anthony looked at Teresa.
“Are they his records?”
“Some.”
“Did he commit crimes?”
Teresa did not answer.
Elena felt the question settle into a place she had been avoiding since the first mention of Calderone.
She had spent years being angry at her father for ordinary failures.
Forgotten birthdays.
Unreturned calls.
Loans he never repaid.
Jobs that appeared and vanished without explanation.
She had preferred incompetence.
Incompetence was familiar.
It did not require a new childhood.
“What did he do?”
Teresa looked at her.
“What did my father do?”
“He kept books.”
“For Grandpa?”
“At first.”
“And after Grandpa died?”
May you like
The silence lasted too long.
“For other people,” Teresa said.
