Chapter 9 - The Safe House
Maria and Emma were moved before sunset to a safe location arranged by Detective Grant.
Alessandro was not told the address.
That was Maria’s condition.
“I trust you,” she said. “I don’t trust everybody around you.”
He could not blame her.
The police arrested Isabella that night on charges related to tampering with food and administering medication without consent. Her attorney immediately claimed she had been manipulated by an unnamed person who threatened her younger brother.
Alessandro learned about the brother from the news before Isabella told him.
Luca DeLuca was twenty-six, recently out of rehab, and deeply in debt to people Carlo knew.
At two in the morning Isabella finally called from county lockup.
“You want the truth?” she asked.
“I wanted it yesterday.”
“Carlo came to me six months ago. He had photos of Luca buying drugs. He said he’d send them to Luca’s employer and probation officer unless I helped him.”
“Help him do what?”
“At first? Get information. Your schedule. Which meetings you would attend. Whether you planned to remove him from the foundation board.”
Alessandro closed his eyes.
“And then?”
“He said he needed you sick for one day. Just one. There was a vote.”
“What vote?”
“The youth center contract.”
The contract was worth millions, but that was not why Alessandro had opposed Carlo’s preferred bidder. The bidder had a record of safety violations.
“If I missed the vote,” Alessandro said, “Carlo could push it through.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor?”
“I never saw Victor that morning. Carlo gave me the bottle. He told me Victor approved it.”
“Why did you tell police Victor gave it to you?”
“Because Carlo said Luca would disappear if I named him.”
Alessandro gripped the phone.
“You were willing to risk my life.”
Her breathing broke. “I thought it would make you sleep.”
“You chose not to know.”
She had no answer.
Before hanging up, Isabella said one more thing.
“Carlo isn’t the one who planned this.”
Alessandro went still.
“Who did?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“I only heard Carlo call him ‘Doctor.’”
Alessandro looked at the old photograph of Victor on his desk.
May you like
Victor was missing.
And suddenly missing did not mean victim.
