Chương 10
Elena sat three chairs away.
Luca noticed the distance.
“You can sit closer,” he said.
“I’m fine.”
“That was not what I said.”
She moved one chair closer, not two.
Caldwell came out after twenty minutes.
“His oxygen is improving. They’re running tests.”
“What happened?”
“They don’t know yet.”
“Brennan knows.”
“Brennan has theories.”
“He ran from his home.”
Caldwell looked toward Elena, then back at Luca.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Luca took out the photograph of Brennan with Vescari.
Caldwell studied it.
“When?”
“Before Sofia died.”
“What does this have to do with Matteo?”
“I don’t know.”
Caldwell handed it back. “Then do not walk into that treatment room with a theory and turn it into a fact.”
“Has Brennan controlled his care?”
“He coordinated it.”
“He chose specialists?”
“Some.”
“Medication?”
“He approved changes.”
“Laboratories?”
“Yes.”
“Did anything ever strike you as wrong?”
Caldwell sat across from him.
“Not wrong. Fragmented.”
“Meaning?”
“Results that didn’t align. Symptoms that improved in the hospital and returned at home. Brennan blamed stress, environment, progression.”
Luca’s body went still.
“At home.”
“That does not prove anything.”
“What changed between the hospital and home?”
“Food, air, routine, medication administration, emotional strain, dozens of variables.”
“Who prepared medication?”
“Usually me. Sometimes the night nurse.”
“Who supplied it?”
“A private pharmacy Brennan recommended.”
Luca looked at Elena.
She had gone pale.
“The bottles,” Elena said. “They were replaced yesterday.”
Caldwell’s head turned. “By whom?”
“A courier. I signed.”
“Where are they?”
“At the house.”
Luca stood.
Caldwell stood too. “You are not leaving.”
“My son may have been poisoned.”
“Your son may be experiencing complications from a severe illness. Those words are not interchangeable.”
“Can the hospital test?”
“They can run toxicology if the physicians believe it’s indicated.”
“Make them believe it.”
“No.”
Luca stepped toward her.
Elena rose between them, not blocking him, only entering the space.
Caldwell did not retreat. “You do not get to turn fear into medical orders. Give them the information. Let them decide what it supports.”
Luca’s breathing had become shallow.
He forced it slower.
“The medication came from a private pharmacy selected by a doctor connected to a man who threatened Sofia.”
“That is information,” Caldwell said. “Give me the pharmacy name, the medication list, and any reason to suspect tampering. I’ll take it to the attending physician.”
Luca called Nico.
No answer.
He called again.
Nico answered on the fourth ring.
“Busy.”
“Get Matteo’s medication from the house.”
“Can’t.”
“Why?”
“Police locked down the east wing after finding unregistered weapons in a storage room.”
“Not our storage room.”
“I know.”
“Rafe?”
“Gone.”
Luca turned away from the waiting room.
“How?”
“During the ambulance transfer. One of the kitchen exits. Car was waiting beyond the service road.”
“You let him leave.”
“I was with you.”
“Find him.”
“I am finding him.”
“Get the medication first.”
“Police have the house.”
“Tell them a child may have been exposed.”
“I’ll tell the detective.”
“What detective?”
“The one asking why your foundation paid a shell company tied to the storage-room lease.”
Luca closed his eyes briefly.
Rafe had prepared more than an escape.
He had prepared ownership.
“Do not answer questions without counsel,” Luca said.
Nico gave a dry, tired laugh. “You called armed police to the estate, boss. We’re past pretending the evening can be managed.”
The line disconnected.
Elena stood near the vending machines, rubbing her fingers together.
“You signed for the medication,” Luca said.
“Yes.”
“Did you see the courier?”
“Hat, glasses, gray jacket.”
“Would you recognize him?”
“I don’t know.”
“That means no.”
“That means I don’t know.”
Her voice sharpened for the first time.
A few people in the waiting room looked over.
Elena lowered it again. “Stop asking questions as if every uncertain answer is a betrayal.”
Luca stared at her.
She looked exhausted now. Not fearless. Not composed. A woman who had spent eleven months carrying a dead friend’s instructions while serving breakfast to the people she feared had killed her.
Luca sat down again.
“Why didn’t you leave after the funeral?” he asked.
“I told you.”
“No. You told me why you stayed near Matteo. That isn’t the same.”
Elena watched the television near the ceiling. Onscreen, a couple in clean clothes smiled at a kitchen being demolished.
“My father worked for your father,” she said. “Not closely. He drove trucks.”
Luca waited.
“He disappeared when I was thirteen.”
The word disappeared had a specific meaning in their world.
“Was my family responsible?”
“My mother believed so.”
“Did Sofia know?”
“Yes.”
“And you still worked in my house.”
“My mother got sick. The health insurance from the hotel job was terrible. Your house paid better.”
Her mouth tightened.
“People like you imagine everyone near you has chosen a side. Most people choose rent.”
Luca looked down at his hands.
The tattoos across his fingers had frightened strangers, impressed foolish men, and become so familiar that he rarely noticed them. Matteo liked tracing the shapes. He called one of the black roses a spider flower.
“What was your father’s name?”
“Paolo Rossi.”
Luca knew the name.
Not from memory at first. From a ledger.
A driver accused of taking money from a shipment near Elizabeth. Luca had been sixteen when his father discussed it over dinner with Rafe. The man had run, they said. Gone south. Abandoned his family.
Rafe had made the explanation.
Luca looked at Elena.
“You think Rafe killed him.”
“I think Rafe told everyone he ran.”
“Do you have proof?”
“No.”
The answer carried no expectation of justice.
Only age.
A physician entered the waiting room and called Matteo’s name.
Luca stood so quickly the chair struck the wall.
May you like
The physician introduced herself as Dr. Shah. She spoke directly, without the careful fog Brennan favored.
Matteo was stable for the moment. His respiratory distress had eased. Initial tests showed abnormalities consistent with his known condition, but also signs that warranted broader toxicology screening. They had admitted him to pediatric intensive care for observation.
