Chương 6
“Did she sit down?”
“No.”
“Anything else?”
Marianne hesitated.
“She gave him something.”
Mara’s voice sharpened.
“What?”
“A program, I think.”
“A funeral program?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because it was folded.”
I felt something cold move through me.
The programs had been stacked at the entrance, heavy cream paper printed with Luca’s photograph.
I had hated the photograph.
He looked too happy in it.
That seemed obscene when I believed him dead.
“Where is Celeste now?” Luca asked.
An officer pointed toward the rear of the chapel.
“She’s with Agent Ruiz.”
Celeste sat alone in the last pew.
Her black suit was immaculate.
Her hands were clasped in her lap.
She watched us approach with the expression of a woman who had spent twenty years billing people for remaining calm.
“Luca,” she said.
He stopped several feet away.
“You told me Jessi had been informed.”
Celeste’s face did not move.
“I told you I handled it.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“You were under sedation when we had that conversation.”
“I was not under sedation yesterday afternoon.”
“You were exhausted.”
Mara stepped between them before Luca could answer.
“Ms. Rowe, did you give Graham Sterling a folded funeral program this morning?”
Celeste looked at her.
“I may have.”
“What was inside it?”
“Nothing.”
“You sound sure for someone who may have given it to him.”
Celeste’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“I handed out several programs.”
“No,” Marianne said from behind us.
Everyone turned.
She had followed.
“You only gave Graham one.”
Celeste looked at her.
Marianne’s chin lifted.
“You leaned over me to do it.”
Celeste exhaled through her nose.
“It was a program.”
“Then you won’t mind if we find it,” Mara said.
Celeste’s hands finally separated.
“You are treating routine behavior as evidence because the morning has become absurd.”
“That happens when corpses sit up.”
Marianne made a wounded noise.
Luca glanced at Mara.
“Was that necessary?”
“Not especially.”
The evidence technician approached with the cane sealed inside a long transparent bag.
“The compartment is empty.”
Luca closed his eyes briefly.
Mara asked, “Prints?”
“Later.”
“Signs of forced access?”
“Not obvious.”
Celeste looked toward the cane.
It lasted less than a second.
Then she looked away.
I noticed.
Mara noticed me noticing.
“Ms. Rowe,” she said, “where is your phone?”
Celeste did not answer.
“Your phone.”
“With my bag.”
“Where is your bag?”
“Front pew.”
An agent went to retrieve it.
Celeste remained seated.
I watched the muscle near her jaw tighten.
Luca stepped closer to me.
“Don’t say anything.”
I turned my head slowly.
“Are you giving me the signal verbally now?”
He winced.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserve several things.”
“Can we schedule them?”
“I’ll have my attorney contact your coffin.”
Marianne stared at us.
“You two are making jokes.”
“No,” I said.
“We’re failing to murder each other in public.”
Luca almost laughed.
He stopped when Celeste spoke.
“You should both leave.”
Mara looked at her.
“Why?”
Celeste’s eyes stayed on Luca.
“Because Graham is not running from you.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“Then who?”
“He’s running toward someone.”
The chapel seemed to contract.
Mara said, “Explain.”
Celeste looked at me.
Not Luca.
Me.
“I was supposed to tell you yesterday.”
I felt Luca stiffen beside me.
“Why didn’t you?”
She swallowed.
The first crack in her composure appeared.
“Because I received a photograph of my daughter leaving her dorm.”
Mara stepped forward.
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
“From whom?”
“Unknown number.”
“Show me.”
“My phone.”
The agent returned carrying Celeste’s handbag in one gloved hand.
He handed Mara the phone after Celeste provided the passcode.
She found the message.
Her face changed almost imperceptibly.
“Is this your daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Current photograph?”
“Yes.”
Luca looked at Celeste.
“You should have told us.”
She laughed once, bitterly.
“You were pretending to be dead.”
“You should have told Mara.”
“I did not know who Mara trusted.”
Mara’s face went flat.
Celeste continued.
“The message said if Jessi learned Luca was alive, my daughter would disappear before sunset.”
I felt my stomach drop.
Luca moved closer.
“Why Jessi specifically?”
Celeste looked at me again.
“Because whoever sent it knew she was the one person you would tell everything to once you were free.”
Luca’s voice was low.
“And the program?”
Celeste hesitated.
“The same number sent another instruction this morning.”
Mara asked, “What instruction?”
“To give Graham a folded program.”
“What was inside?”
“A parking stub.”
I stared at her.
“A parking stub from where?”
“The east garage downtown.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“That garage is beside Sterling Tower.”
Celeste nodded.
“There was a handwritten number on the back.”
“What number?”
“B-fourteen.”
Mara was already talking into her radio.
“Get units to the east garage at Sterling Tower and lock down level B.”
Celeste stood.
“Graham saw the number and knew what it meant.”
“What?”
“A private storage cage beneath the executive garage.”
Luca swore under his breath.
“I didn’t know we still had those.”
“Most were removed during renovation.”
“Most?”
“Graham kept one.”
Mara asked, “What’s inside?”
Celeste shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
I looked at Luca.
He was staring at the phone in Mara’s hand.
“What else did the message say?”
Celeste went pale.
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
She looked at him.
“Luca.”
“What else?”
Celeste closed her eyes.
Mara checked the thread herself.
“There’s a third message.”
She read silently.
Then she looked at me.
I hated that.
“What?”
Mara turned the screen away slightly.
“Mrs. Sterling.”
“What does it say?”
Luca reached for the phone.
Mara stopped him.
I stepped forward.
“Read it.”
Celeste whispered, “Don’t.”
I looked at her.
“Read it.”
Mara’s voice became careful.
“If Graham fails, the widow goes next.”
No one spoke.
A phone rang somewhere in the chapel.
The sound seemed absurdly cheerful.
I looked at Luca.
He had gone completely still.
This time, when he reached for my hand, I let him take it.
His grip was too tight.
Mine was tighter.
May you like
Mara’s radio burst with static.
“Keene, we found Sterling.”
