Chương 3
“Both.”
“Daddy.”
Sophia’s warning carried more force than some threats Luca had received.
He leaned back.
“Tell me.”
Hannah looked at the child.
“The front of the SUV went down first. I saw the back lights under the water. I called 911 and ran down the embankment.”
“You went in?” Sophia asked.
Hannah nodded.
“It was stupid.”
Clare said, “That’s one word.”
“The water hurt,” Sophia said.
Hannah’s face softened.
“Yeah.”
Sophia stared at her.
“I couldn’t get my belt.”
“I know.”
“You broke the window.”
“I tried.”
“You did.”
“Eventually.”
“With the red thing.”
“Tire iron.”
Luca’s attention sharpened.
That detail had never appeared in public reporting.
It did appear in one private rescue assessment prepared for his lawyers.
Sophia touched Hannah’s wrist.
“You sang.”
Hannah looked embarrassed.
“I did something that sounded loosely related to singing.”
“What song?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You said the moon was following us.”
Hannah froze.
So did Luca.
Sophia had repeated that sentence during delirious nights at Northwestern Memorial.
The moon is following us.
Again and again.
Luca had assumed it came from a cartoon or a dream.
Hannah swallowed.
“My dad used to tell me that when we drove at night. I was trying to keep you talking.”
Sophia’s eyes filled.
“You told me not to sleep.”
“You were very convincing about wanting to.”
“I was tired.”
“I know.”
“You promised you’d come back.”
Hannah’s gaze dropped.
Luca saw the guilt arrive before she spoke.
“I promised I would find you.”
“You did.”
“Eventually.”
Sophia nodded as though nine months were a reasonable delay.
Children were sometimes merciful in ways adults could not afford to be.
A knock came at the door.
Vincent opened it without entering.
“Elaine’s here.”
“Martin?”
“Still downstairs.”
“Bring her.”
Elaine Mercer entered carrying her phone and a gala clutch.
She was forty-four, polished, intelligent, and usually impossible to fluster. Luca had hired her six years earlier after a national hospital network praised the fundraising campaign she had run for neonatal care.
Tonight she took one look at Hannah and stopped.
Hannah stood.
“You.”
Elaine’s face drained.
Sophia looked between them.
Luca said, “You know her.”
Elaine closed the door behind herself.
“Mr. Moretti, I think we should speak privately.”
“No.”
“This involves foundation operations.”
“It involves my daughter.”
“Luca,” Clare said quietly.
Elaine noticed Sophia’s hand in Hannah’s.
Her shoulders lowered.
“I met Ms. Carter once.”
“Twice,” Hannah said.
Elaine inhaled.
“Twice.”
“When?”
“January.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
The crash had happened November twenty-third.
“Where?”
“At the foundation office.”
Hannah laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“The first time was in the lobby. I didn’t get past security.”
Elaine said, “There had been threats after the accident.”
“Against who?” Hannah asked. “Me?”
“Against the family.”
“I came in wearing a wrist brace with discharge papers and a police incident number.”
“And we had procedures.”
“You sent me away.”
“I told you we needed to verify your identity.”
“You told me someone would call.”
Elaine looked at Luca.
“I believed someone did.”
“No one called,” Hannah said.
Luca’s voice became quieter.
“What happened the second time?”
Elaine pressed her lips together.
Hannah answered.
“I came back four days later.”
“How did you get upstairs?”
“I waited for someone with a badge to open the elevator gate.”
Elaine said, “Which is one reason security was concerned.”
“I was trying to find a child I had pulled out of a river.”
“You were trying to reach a family receiving active threats.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“You were told.”
“I was told after I was already treated like a lunatic.”
Luca held up one hand.
Both women stopped.
He looked at Elaine.
“What did she tell you?”
Elaine took a moment.
“She said she was the rescuer.”
“And?”
“She wanted to see Sophia.”
“And?”
“She had no documentation proving the claim at that time.”
Hannah leaned forward.
“I had the case number.”
“The case number was publicly obtainable.”
“I had stitches in my thigh.”
“That did not prove you rescued Sophia.”
“I knew what color her socks were.”
Elaine’s eyes closed.
Luca turned to Hannah.
“What color?”
“Yellow. Little white clouds on them. One came off in the car. The other was still on when I got her through the window.”
Luca’s stomach tightened.
The hospital had returned one yellow sock in a plastic property bag.
Sophia said, “I liked those socks.”
“No,” Luca said absently. “You complained they slid down.”
“They had clouds.”
“Yes.”
“They were good clouds.”
Hannah squeezed her hand.
Elaine sat down without being invited.
“I’m not saying she was lying.”
“You told me I was exploiting a tragedy.”
Hannah’s voice had become very calm.
Elaine looked ashamed.
“I said we had dealt with people attempting to exploit the accident.”
“You looked at me and said, ‘If you care about that little girl, you’ll leave her family alone.’”
Luca’s gaze moved to Elaine.
She did not deny it.
Sophia whispered, “Why?”
No one answered immediately.
That was worse.
Clare crouched beside the sofa.
“Sophia, sometimes adults make decisions because they think they’re keeping somebody safe.”
“Was she keeping me safe?”
Clare looked at Elaine.
“That’s what we’re figuring out.”
Sophia’s chin tightened.
“She wasn’t.”
Elaine flinched.
Luca had seen men accept indictments with more composure.
He stood.
“Who told you to keep Hannah away?”
Elaine looked at him.
“No one told me in those words.”
“Which words did they use?”
“Luca—”
“Which words?”
Elaine rubbed the edge of her clutch with one thumb.
“Martin said any unverified contact related to the accident went through him.”
Luca’s expression did not change.
“When?”
“After the first week.”
“He ordered it?”
“He centralized it.”
“Why?”
“He said people were trying to reach Sophia through the foundation.”
“They were.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why we had investigators.”
Elaine looked toward Hannah.
“I sent her intake form to Martin’s office.”
Hannah’s head snapped around.
May you like
“You told me there was no form.”
“There wasn’t a formal external form. I wrote an internal contact summary.”
