Chương 11
“How many dogs?”
“Forty-three entries over seven years.”
Nina looked at the ledger again.
Some entries had names written in a different hand. Others had only numbers. A few ended with a black line.
“What does that mean?”
Lorenzo closed the book.
“What does the line mean?”
“Unsuitable.”
“What happened to them?”
“We do not know.”
“Give me the ledger.”
“No.”
“I’m taking it to the police.”
“No.”
“There are forty-three dogs.”
“And the ledger connects them to companies connected to me.”
Nina stared at him.
At last the truth stood in the room without disguise.
“You’re protecting yourself.”
“I am containing a problem.”
“They were stolen.”
“I will locate the animals that remain alive. I will compensate the owners.”
“With money.”
“Yes.”
“So nobody talks.”
“So the dogs are returned without inviting scrutiny that benefits no one.”
“It benefits you.”
“It keeps my organization stable.”
“Your organization bought stolen dogs and paid men to torture them.”
“I did not know.”
“You keep saying that like ignorance is a moral achievement.”
Lorenzo’s voice dropped. “Be careful.”
“No.”
Ghost moved between them again.
This time Lorenzo did not step back.
“You entered my home,” he said, “and I allowed you to accuse me. I gave you access to records, doctors, employees, and information that has placed people at risk.”
“You gave me what you had to give me because Ghost recognized me in front of witnesses.”
“You think fear is the only reason anyone acts?”
“I think it’s your favorite.”
Lorenzo leaned forward, both palms on the table. “If I give this ledger to the police, they do not stop with Dominic.”
“Maybe they shouldn’t.”
Rocco looked toward the hallway.
Lorenzo’s face became very still.
Nina felt fear at last, clean and unmistakable.
She did not retreat.
“You’re right,” she said. “I don’t know everything you’ve done. I know people leave rooms when you speak. I know guards carry guns in your house. I know my employer fired me because you looked at her. Maybe the police should keep asking questions.”
“Your mother took money for the dog.”
Nina flinched.
“That complicates your legal claim,” Lorenzo continued. “Raul may say she authorized the sale. Dominic may say he believed Raul owned the animal. Paperwork can be manufactured in both directions.”
“Are you threatening to help him?”
“I am telling you that truth and proof are different things.”
“Then help me prove it.”
“I am offering to return every living dog privately.”
“Return Ghost.”
His eyes moved to the Rottweiler.
Silence stretched.
Nina understood.
“You can’t.”
“I will not make a decision under threat.”
“I’m not threatening you.”
“You are threatening everything around me.”
“No. The truth is.”
Lorenzo closed the ledger and lifted it from the table.
Nina reached for it.
Rocco moved.
Ghost growled.
Everyone stopped.
Nina let her hand fall.
“You are not taking him today,” Lorenzo said.
“You promised a week.”
“The week is not over.”
“You were never going to let him go.”
“I have not decided.”
“You decided the first night. You just hoped I would become expensive enough to dismiss.”
“That is not what happened.”
“Then what happened?”
For once, Lorenzo had no controlled answer.
He looked at Ghost, and the frightening man in the perfect suit disappeared for one heartbeat. In his place stood someone tired, cornered, and ashamed of needing anything.
“He wakes me before the nightmares get bad,” he said.
The confession was so quiet Nina almost missed it.
Rocco turned his face away.
Lorenzo’s eyes remained on the dog. “He knows before I do. He puts his head against my chest until I can breathe.”
Nina’s anger did not vanish. It became more difficult.
“What nightmares?”
“That is not relevant.”
“It is to him.”
Lorenzo straightened. The opening closed.
Nina rubbed Ghost’s ear.
“When my father broke things,” she said, “Ghost used to sit outside my bedroom door. He was a puppy. He could not have stopped anyone. He sat there anyway.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“We both needed him,” she said. “That doesn’t tell us who gets to own him.”
“No.”
“It tells us neither of us should make him pay for being loved twice.”
Ghost looked from one face to the other.
Nina took a slow breath. “Give the ledger to an attorney. A real attorney who does not work for you. Let them contact the owners. Let them decide what goes to the police.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I do not surrender control to strangers.”
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The thing that hurt him.”
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
“Dominic wanted to control a dog until the dog forgot himself,” Nina said. “You want to control the truth until it stops being dangerous. Different collar. Same idea.”
Lorenzo moved so quickly that Rocco’s hand entered his jacket.
He stopped inches from Nina.
Ghost stood between them, body rigid.
Lorenzo’s voice was barely audible. “Do not compare me to him.”
“Then don’t act like him.”
For several seconds, nobody breathed normally.
Then Lorenzo stepped back.
“Take her home,” he told Rocco.
Nina did not argue.
She bent to Ghost. He pressed his forehead against hers.
“I’ll come tomorrow,” she whispered.
Lorenzo said nothing.
The next morning, the black sedan did not arrive.
Nina called Rocco. No answer.
She called the penthouse. The line rang until a recorded voice asked her to leave a message.
At ten thirty, she took the bus into Manhattan.
The building’s doorman blocked her before she reached the elevators.
“Mr. Castellano is unavailable.”
“I have an appointment.”
“Not today.”
“Call him.”
“I have instructions.”
Ghost began barking somewhere above them.
The sound traveled faintly through the lobby ceiling or perhaps through Nina’s imagination. She looked up.
The doorman’s eyes shifted.
“You hear him,” she said.
“Ma’am.”
“Tell Lorenzo I’m here.”
“I need you to leave.”
Two security men approached from the side corridor.
May you like
Nina stepped outside before they could touch her.
She stood beneath the awning while rain began again, lighter than the night she had found Ghost.
