Chương 12
Her phone rang.
The number was blocked.
“Nina Vasquez?” a man asked.
“Yes.”
“You need to stop interfering in Mr. Castellano’s affairs.”
“Dominic?”
A quiet laugh.
“Mr. Castellano is not the man you think he is.”
“I think he owns too many suits.”
“You believe he will protect you because the dog likes you.”
“Ghost does not like me. He remembers me.”
“That can be corrected.”
Nina’s body went cold.
“What did you say?”
“Go home. Forget the dog. Keep the cash.”
“You left the envelope.”
“Five thousand is more than you had yesterday.”
“Where are you?”
The call ended.
Nina dialed Rocco again.
This time he answered.
“Where is Ghost?”
A pause.
“Rocco.”
“We have a problem.”
“Where is he?”
“Dominic took him.”
The lobby doors opened behind Nina. Lorenzo stepped outside without an umbrella.
His black shirt was open at the throat. He had not shaved. One sleeve bore a dark smear that might have been oil or blood.
Nina lowered the phone.
“How?” she asked.
Lorenzo stopped beneath the awning.
“Dominic still had access to the private garage. He replaced one of the night guards with a man on his payroll. Ghost knows him.”
“You knew Dominic was gone.”
“I changed the building codes.”
“But not the people.”
Lorenzo accepted the blow.
“When?”
“Three hours ago.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I was looking.”
“He called me.”
Every muscle in Lorenzo’s face tightened. “What did he say?”
“That Ghost’s memory can be corrected.”
Rocco emerged behind him carrying the black ledger.
Lorenzo’s eyes fixed on Nina. “Did he name a location?”
“No.”
“Background sounds?”
“Nothing.”
“Traffic? Trains?”
“I said nothing.”
“You spoke for twenty-three seconds.”
“How do you know?”
“I have your phone records.”
Nina stared at him.
“Not now,” he said.
She almost argued. Then she saw the fear beneath his control.
“What does Dominic want?” she asked.
“The ledger.”
“Give it to him.”
“No.”
“He has Ghost.”
“He has forty-three reasons to destroy it.”
“He only needs one reason to kill my dog.”
“Our dog,” Lorenzo said.
The words stopped them both.
Rocco looked down at the ledger.
Lorenzo took a breath. “Dominic will not kill Ghost immediately. He needs leverage.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know him.”
“You didn’t know him yesterday.”
Anger flashed across his face, then disappeared beneath guilt.
Nina stepped closer. “Where was the old kennel?”
“Outside Newburgh.”
“Raul said it moved.”
“We found utility payments for a property near Pine Bush. The company is registered to Pike’s sister.”
“Have you sent people?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Empty.”
“Recently?”
“Food bowls were wet. Tire tracks fresh.”
Nina closed her eyes.
Ghost hated cars after long drives. As a puppy, he drooled across the back seat and leaned against Nina until her shirt was soaked. She had complained every time.
She would have given anything to feel that damp weight again.
Rocco’s phone vibrated.
He answered, listened, and turned to Lorenzo. “Traffic camera caught Dominic’s SUV near Route 17. Northbound.”
“Send the team.”
“They’re moving.”
Nina looked between them. “Where would he go?”
Lorenzo said nothing.
“Dominic thinks you’ll look at properties connected to him,” she said. “He’ll use somewhere that does not belong to him.”
Rocco opened a map on his phone.
Nina remembered Raul sitting against the repair bay wall.
“He said dogs came from yards, apartments, shelters. Somebody had to hold them before the kennel.”
“Staging locations,” Rocco said.
“Raul might know.”
Lorenzo’s eyes hardened. “Call him.”
Raul did not answer Nina’s first three calls.
On the fourth, he whispered, “I did what you said. I went to a lawyer.”
“Where did Dominic keep dogs before Newburgh?”
Silence.
“Raul.”
“There was a farm.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know the address.”
“What did you see?”
“An old dairy sign. Red barn. A water tower painted like a peach.”
Rocco searched.
“There’s a peach water tower near Florida, New York,” he said.
“Florida?” Nina asked.
“The village.”
Raul continued through the speaker. “There were train tracks close. Freight trains at night.”
Rocco enlarged the map. “Two farms fit.”
Lorenzo was already moving toward the sedan.
Nina followed.
He turned. “You stay.”
“No.”
“This is not a discussion.”
“Ghost may not respond to you if Dominic has hurt him.”
“He will respond.”
“You don’t know.”
“I will not take you into—”
“He came to me across broken porcelain while four armed men watched him. I’m going.”
Lorenzo looked at Rocco.
Rocco said, “She may be useful.”
“You are both becoming unbearable.”
They entered the sedan.
During the drive north, Lorenzo made calls in a low voice. He gave instructions without explaining them. Two vehicles followed. Rocco sat in the front passenger seat, studying satellite images.
Nina sat beside Lorenzo in the back.
Neither spoke for twenty minutes.
The city fell away. Buildings lowered, then separated. Wet trees lined the highway.
At last Nina said, “What happened to your father?”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“You said Ghost wakes you from nightmares.”
“I did not say they were about my father.”
“You did not have to.”
He turned toward the window.
Nina expected silence.
Instead he said, “He was shot at a restaurant in Brooklyn.”
“Were you there?”
“Yes.”
“How old were you?”
“Twenty-one.”
Ghost had been eighteen months when he was taken. Old enough to remember. Young enough to be remade.
Nina watched Lorenzo’s reflection in the window.
“Did Dominic save you?”
“He pulled me through the kitchen.”
“That’s why you trusted him.”
“He was covered in my father’s blood.”
The answer held no drama. That made it worse.
“Maybe he has been collecting payment ever since,” Nina said.
Lorenzo’s eyes remained on the trees. “Perhaps.”
His phone rang.
Rocco answered from the front. “Team found the first farm empty.”
“What about the second?”
“Seven minutes out.”
May you like
Lorenzo told the driver to go faster.
The second farm stood behind a collapsed wooden fence at the end of a narrow road. A faded sign advertised dairy products from a business that no longer existed. Beyond the red barn, a peach-painted water tower rose above the trees.
